Transformation: Challenges for South Africa

Abstract

* Makgoba, M.W. (1997). MOKOKO: The Makgoba Affair--A reflection on transformation. Johannesburg: Vivlia. * Editors Note: William Makgoba was invited to reply to Williams' review. Magoba's main concern was that readers should be aware that he uses certain biological terms as metaphors. They are not meant to be read in sociobiological vein as appears to be the case in the review. General introduction THE REVIEW OF this text, as its name implies, The Makgoba Affair, is fraught with potential controversy for at least two reasons: First, the book addresses the topical issue of `transformation', a key concern in the wake of the 1994 democratic elections in South Africa. Second, the text also seeks to elucidate the role of the intellectual in society, and more notably the African intellectual in South Africa, a subject which is not only relatively novel in the historiography of South Africa but one which is central to institutional transformation, particularly at university level (cf Makgoba, 1997:vii). An appreciation of Makgoba Multiple, interlocking and reinforcing themes emerge from Makgoba's text. Indeed, his book can be read in various fashions to suit particular audiences, needs and aspirations (cf Makgoba, 1997:vii-viii). Here the following multifocal themes are highlighted, viz: the construction of identities of the human subject; the development of self-consciousness and the identification of human potentiality; discursive power, institutional accountability and the empowerment of ordinary people; and the delegitimation of oppressive power relations in transforming the human condition (cf Makgoba, 1997: 23-27) (1). Whilst this critique will directly refer to Makgoba's text, there are, however, certain sections which will be quoted at length to adduce particular arguments vis-a-vis the transformation problematique. Construction of identities of the human subject Makgoba posits the dominant representational system as Eurocentrism in which African subjects are marginalised thus leading, through historical incidence and practice, to a largely oppressed indigenous community in the African sub-continent. Hence the problem of institutional transformation at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). The problem Wits, one of the premier universities of South Africa, like all other tertiary institutions in that country, has to be transformed in response to post-apartheid policies. Powerful, rightwing, reactionary forces, however, deriving their roots within the colonial and apartheid history of South Africa, a point emphasized throughout Makgoba's book (cf especially pp196-209), would coalesce to ensure that the agenda for transformation be determined by the dominant relations of power within the University, ie. largely English-speaking white males. This strategy of interposition and nullification, of an informed black voice, would thus effectively preclude `outsiders', such as Professor Makgoba, from playing any significant role in determining the form, substance and direction of institutional change, a la the transformation project, at Wits. Hence the so-called Makgoba Affair (Makgoba, 1997:x-xi). What is transformation? A definition Makgoba defines transformation as [the] act or whereby the form, shape or nature of something is completely changed or altered, a blueprint change. For Makgoba, there is an important difference between transformation and reformation. The latter refers to the process of modification without fundamental change, a cosmetic change (p. 181), which he obviously does not embrace. The problem of transformation According to Makgoba, universities should be trans-educating, trans-orienting, trans-socialising and harmonising the various perceptions and paradigms from which the South African society has its roots, namely the African, European and Oriental. …