Call for Signatories: Letter to Professor Francis Petersen regarding allegations against Dr. Pedro Mzileni - Closing 30 Sept 2023

26 September 2023

Dr. Pedro Mzileni, a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of the Free State, is currently facing censure for speaking out publicly about continuing anti-Black racism in South Africa. Afriforum have, through their lawyers, written to Prof. Petersen (VC of UFS) requesting an "immediate investigation" into Dr. Mzileni, with the aim of invoking "disciplinary actions". The statement below has been drafted by academics in support of Dr.  Mzileni and academic freedom.

We request signatories from academic staff at all South African Universities and research institutions in support of the letter below, to push back against the victimisation of a fellow academic as part of a dangerous and damaging global right-wing move to silence teaching and critical discourse on continuing racism in our society and institutions.

The letter by Afriforum's lawyers may be viewed here: 

Names, surnames and institutional affiliations of signatories will be appended to the letter by 5:00pm on 30 September 2023, whereupon the letter will be sent to Prof. Petersen. The information thus shared by signatories will be used solely for this purpose.

Current signatories can be viewed here: 

Dear Professor Francis Petersen

Vice Chancellor

University of the Free State

25 September 2023

As university scholars committed to academic freedom and concerned about racism, and as scholars of South African society, history, law, and politics, among other fields, we write against the attempt by Afriforum to censure our colleague Dr. Pedro Mzileni for speaking out publicly about continuing anti-Black racism in South Africa.

With alarm, we identify Afriforum’s intervention as part of a global right-wing effort to silence anti-racist teaching both in schools and in universities. Other than upholding existing structures of racist exclusion we see no imaginable purpose to that effort, so we ask you to refuse Afriforum’s attempt to poison the well of democratic education.

We do not know all the particular circumstances regarding this event. We especially note, however, the following key paragraph, numbered 6 in Afriforum’s complaint addressed to the University of the Free State regarding this incident:

“Dr. Mzileni's lecture was laden with a series of deeply inflammatory and prejudiced remarks. His divisive rhetoric, which made repeated references to apartheid and racial disparities, seemed intent on stoking the flames of racial division and animosity. He painted entire racial groups with a broad brush, suggesting that they benefit from a system built on the oppression of others, an overgeneralization that can perpetuate harmful stereotypes. The incendiary comments about land ownership, which hinted at a nation being constructed on the pain and suffering of specific racial groups, are not only historically oversimplified but also potentially dangerous in fostering resentment. His choice of words, such as "white supremacy" and drawing a division between groups, are overtly antagonistic. Such language and the purposefully inflammatory approach in an educational setting is highly inappropriate and potentially harmful, given that it could shape the perspectives of impressionable minds in a divisive manner. The lecture lacked the nuance, understanding, and respect required of educators.”

If accepted by any university or other authority, this complaint would make it impossible to teach the history, jurisprudence, and politics of South Africa. 

Is there any reasonable party which does not accept that our country has a history of systematic anti-Black racism that has motivated the dispossession of land and dignity through a project seeking white settler-colonial supremacy?

We would not find it necessary to dignify such statements as Afriforum’s here if it were not for the fact that the press and a number of established authorities have appeared to take these allegations at face value and have announced that they are proceeding to investigate them.

We are especially concerned that UFS authorities have not acted swiftly to defend the academic freedom of a colleague in the face of malicious reporting that has included his name and subjected him to harassment.

We note also that there is an uptick in accusations of racism at UFS, but that this is the only case of racial controversy in which a member of staff has been named. We shall be keeping an eye on this pattern going forward.

We trust that all investigations that follow will protect both Dr. Mzileni’s academic freedom as well as the truth which comes from any free academic inquiry into the history of South Africa.

The consensus of existing scholarship on South Africa is that this is a society founded on the dispossession of Black people, as Dr. Mzileni has said. We urge all responsible to advocate for the protection of his right to state this truth.

Yours sincerely,

The Undersigned

(Names and institutional affiliations of signatories to be appended here)