Anger as South Africa’s landmark black university picks white v-c

Appointing a white man to lead one of South Africa’s best-known historically black universities is an “insult” to decades-long efforts to diversify the country’s higher education leadership, according to a legal academic.

Established in 1959 as a university for “coloured” people only – the term used in South Africa for people from a mixed-race background – the University of the Western Cape (UWC) has been led for the past 50 years by non-white academics, including the prominent anti-apartheid activist Jakes Gerwels.

The decision by the university, which was set up to provide educational opportunities for black students excluded from nearby Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town (UCT), to install Robert Balfour as its first white vice-chancellor since 1974 has, however, proved controversial. Much of the criticism has been led by supporters of a popular internal candidate, Vivienne Lawack, who had won the backing of UWC’s academic-dominated senate.

“Bringing in a white male professor to run a university like UWC is an insult to the transformative change journey that South African higher education has been on for the past 30 years,” said Soraya Beukes, chairperson of the Higher Education Resources Services, South Africa, a non-profit group aimed at supporting female leadership in the sector.

“I don’t want to talk down the incoming vice-chancellor because he has the right credentials, but this appointment doesn’t seem to embrace South Africa’s employment equity laws,” explained Dr Beukes, an alumna of UWC, where she has also lectured.

“That means you can’t just have a box-ticking attitude towards equity – you have to embrace this agenda and consider women first.”

The questions about UWC’s selection come as two of South Africa’s so-called “big five” research-intensive universities – UCT and the University of Pretoria – are choosing new permanent leaders, with decisions expected to be announced later this month. Six of the country’s 26 universities are led by women, though none are currently at the “big five”.

Professor Balfour’s appointment has faced internal criticism, with more than 200 staff members signing a letter expressing “great concern” about the selection.

Opting against the “historic appointment of a qualified and experienced black female vice-chancellor” was a mistake, it adds.

The letter also highlights what it calls the “clear unfairness” faced by Professor Lawack, who faced more than an hour and a half of “arguably derogatory questions” from students as part of the interview process. The letter claims that Professor Balfour, currently deputy vice-chancellor (teaching and learning) at North-West University, and a third contender, Jose Frantz, received “relatively mild treatment” for about 20 minutes each during a town hall-style meeting.

Forcing candidates to endure that kind of public grilling disadvantaged internal candidates but might also discourage women, in particular, from standing, said Dr Beukes. “It’s unfair to force people to perform like that – interviews are intimidating enough without this kind of theatre,” she said, adding of the livestreamed event: “What other job interview would be broadcast on YouTube?”

UWC told THE that public presentations by vice-chancellor candidates “are not at all unusual in South Africa” and were “encouraged to promote openness and transparency”.

“The university confirms that Professor Balfour was appointed following rigorous deliberation and a vote by the council of the university in full compliance with the university statute,” a spokesman said.

Dr Beukes also questioned whether the controversy regarding UCT’s former vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng – who took early retirement in February 2023 amid claims, later upheld by a judge-led inquiry, that she had bullied and belittled colleagues – might have pushed UWC’s council to opt against a black female candidate.

“It did perhaps taint the process, I feel – there were two very competent female professors who ran, and one was recommended by the senate for the job, but the council went against that,” said Dr Beukes.

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