Established in 1960 as an institution of higher learning to fit in with apartheid’s social engineering doctrine at the time, the University of Zululand (Unizulu) struggled for decades to break free of its enforced ‘bush college’ label and all its negative connotations.
Despite the many obstacles and ongoing disruptive political turmoil, well-documented in the university’s archives, it survived.
With the advent of true democracy in South Africa, the institution was poised to cast off the shackles of politically-driven restraint and finally soar to achieve a reputation of excellence.
It had a key advantage compared to the other so-called ‘bush colleges’, geographically situated as it was within the boundaries of South Africa’s biggest economic growth point – the Port of Richards Bay.
With innovative and proactive leadership, nothing should have prevented Unizulu from fast-tracking its developing over the past 20 years to come on par with (or at least close to) the country’s ‘Ivy League’ universities such as Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Rhodes, Free State and Potchefstroom.
What the procession of post-1994 leadership – and that includes the student leadership – perhaps failed to grasp was that the game-changing Mandela era demanded a more dynamic approach to doing business in the academic sector.
In a strange twist, there was an almost emotional sympathy factor in play during the apartheid years which attracted foreign and local corporate capital support for research, facilities and bursaries.
Democracy has upped the game, however. Now its simply about performance. Big money follows success, innovation, ground-breaking research and, perhaps above all, stability.
This month – as in the past – the university was once again shut down because of violent student protests, followed by revelations of a ‘witch-hunt’ to rid the campus of senior and experienced staff, which could very well leave a damaging vacuum negatively impacting operations.
The perception is that little has changed.
Until the day Unizulu is liberated from political interference and constant infighting, it will be doomed to forever remain ordinary.
Progress will only be achieved once academic endeavour – and nothing else – becomes the only priority.
