When an octopus finds itself outclassed by an opponent it retreats, emitting an inky cloud to hide behind. Dr Russell Ally seems to be behaving in much the same way. He now repents of having called Dr Hughes and myself racists but instead wishes to accuse us of "scaremongering underpinned by bigotry", which amounts to much the same thing.
I can understand why Dr Ally is keen to quit this conversation. He seems to think it is acceptable behaviour to throw insults at people who have shown no discourtesy to him.
But let us cut to the chase. The Vice Chancellor's proposal is that in future UCT exercise a policy of racial discrimination in its hiring practices, privileging South African Africans above Coloureds, Indians and of course the large number of talented Africans from the rest of the continent.
Whites are to be excluded from contention altogether and they are held in such contempt that they don't even warrant mention. Dr Ally tries to defend this behind his cloud of ink but is never willing to discuss it properly.
The obvious point is that, like all prescriptions of "demographic representivity" used in the Western Cape, such a policy is aimed first and foremost at excluding the Coloured majority and the other 25% who are white. Such an extreme form of South African black nativism is not even espoused by Dr Blade Nzimande but is associated more with the likes of Jimmy Manyi and a small core of extreme BC elements.
The question which needs to be answered is why the UCT Vice Chancellor wishes to adopt as university policy such an extreme creed, supported only by a small and unrepresentative minority? In addition, why is Dr Ally, a person of Colour himself, supporting a policy aimed at excluding the Coloured majority in the Western Cape?
The second point is simply the distressed and intimidated state of much of the UCT faculty. Again, Dr Ally carefully refrains from addressing this point. Yet this is an utterly shameful situation which is the very first duty of the UCT administration to remedy. This is not just the concern of what Dr Ally oddly calls UCT "alums" but of anyone who wishes to protect (let alone advance) higher education in South Africa.
RW Johnson
