ANT KATZ

Prof Habib told the Jewish Report in March that the application would await the outcome of the investigation and the Vice Chancellor promised to give sight of it to Jewish Report as early as next week.

Over the past week Prof Habib has again had cause to sanction (and, eventually, remove) the SRC head Mcebo Dlamini – not because of the latter’s Facebook posts about how fond he is of Adolf Hitler, but for the February offence.

RIGHT: Talking tough, Wits VC Adam Habib

Habib was, however, hopping mad about the Hitler episode and he published three blogs to that effect (SEE BELOW) to the Wits community and referred the latest bizarre episode with Dlamini to the legal department to investigate what would be a third charge.

In the March episode, allegations have been made by Leon Mithi (or Mighty Jaime as he is commonly known), the leader of the Project W group on the SRC. Habib told Jewish Report Online: “These allegations have been made in a letter to me late last week. I have this morning established a task team to investigate the veracity of these claims, and until this task team furnishes me with its findings, I will not be in a position to comment on the allegations.” Habib did, in fairness, agree to an interview if we still wanted to but there was little point.

Read: PROJECT W DISTANCES ITSELF FROM WITS SRC which contains a link to the PDF of Leon’s allegations that spurred Habib into action.

Prof Habib has not put a foot out of place in mediating the often fine line of fairness between the pro- and anti-Israel groups on his campus since assuming his position. In fact Jewish students feel safer and more secure than they did prior to his arrival.

But, as they say, the proof of the pudding will now be in the eating.

During the course of the past 48-hours several reliable sources close to the issue have spoken to SAJR and given conflicting reports about the complaint about irregular spending. We can only wait to see the report next week. Depending what the report does or doesn’t say, and how Habib handles it going forward, he could be holding the hottest potato he has ever had to.

So, it is really a question of “so far so good” – and may it continues along the same path.

Habib on the “Hitler” issue

Statement from the Wits Vice-Chancellor on the SRC President’s Facebook posts

April 28, 2015

Dear Colleagues, Students, Alumni and Members of the Wits University Community

The SRC President’s Facebook posts regarding Adolf Hitler and his subsequent comments to our student newspaper were forwarded to me over the weekend by a number of concerned staff, students and alumni. I have emailed the SRC President and asked him to account for his remarks but have not yet received a response.

The Facebook posts and subsequent comments are racist and offensive in the extreme. They make disparaging remarks about various communities and assume a similar characteristic among all white people. Disturbingly, they valorise a racist autocrat who was responsible for the murder of millions of people. Valorising such an individual is utterly unacceptable and especially dangerous in a climate where we are experiencing xenophobic attacks. It violates the fundamental values of Wits University.

In my email to the SRC President, I indicated that Wits strives to be a pluralistic institution and defends freedom of speech, even when this means allowing the expression of views that do not accord with our own views and values. However, we expect our officials to be circumspect in their utterances and to act within the values of the institution. This is a principle that applies to the SRC President and it has clearly been violated in this case.

As such, I am referring Mcebo Dlamini for investigation to see whether disciplinary charges should be brought against him in this regard.

To all individuals to whom this incident may have caused offence, I want to apologise for the fact that someone who is deemed a leader in our community could have made such shocking and embarrassing statements. His behaviour in no way speaks to the values of Wits as an institution.

Professor Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

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Statement from the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University on responses received regarding Mr Mcebo Dlamini’s recent comments

May 4, 2015

As of today, Mr Mcebo Dlamini is no longer President or a member of the SRC. The rationale for this has been articulated in a letter that was sent to all students a short while ago, and need not be the subject of this communication. However, I thought it appropriate to write to those of you who have engaged me and my colleagues through emails and social media to express your abhorrence for his statements on Adolf Hitler, his racist remarks regarding whites and his anti-Semitism.

You are all absolutely right to be outraged by Mr Dlamini’s statements and his subsequent defence of those statements. I too am appalled, and we are all embarrassed by the fact that it came from a leader within our own University community. This is why I took the unprecedented step of releasing a public statement condemning the President of the SRC of my own University.

However, I want to engage some of you about the inherent assumptions in your own responses. Many of the responses were perfectly legitimate, reflecting outrage, as they should, within the boundaries of civilised discourse and a non-racial ethos. But there were some that I believe reflected the very racism that they were condemning. Some responses included the unacceptable use of words such as ‘monkey’. Some included opinions about the new South Africa and its propensity to be corrupt, racist and xenophobic.

LEFT: He’s out! Mcebo Dlamini is history

Some glorified the Wits of old and lamented its decline. Then there were others that urged me to inform Mr Dlamini that it was whites or Jews who led the struggle for the freedom that he now enjoys. These responses provoked their own racist responses, spinning into a never-ending cycle of racism.

I must say that I found all of these statements as offensive as Mr Dlamini’s which, however racist, did not justify the racism that they provoked and in fact seemed to expose the dirty underbelly of racism that many of us subtly or unsubtly share.

There are many problems in the new South Africa and it is legitimate for us to be critical, as many of us at Wits have been for many years. But contemporary South Africa is not wholly defined by corruption, racism or xenophobia. It is also marked by new opportunities for people who were previously excluded, by a robust civil society and a critical press, and by decency among ordinary South Africans, many of whom came onto the streets in their thousands only two weeks ago to say that the xenophobic attacks were not in their name.

The Wits of old was on one level a great place of opportunity and a haven of sanity in a racist and authoritarian world.  But it was also a place where black students and others were deliberately excluded from many of the opportunities that were provided to their white counterparts. The contemporary Wits is far more diverse and cosmopolitan, and yet still continues to produce the excellent research and teaching outputs for which the University has always been renowned.

In addition, it must be said that there were many people from a variety of racial, political and religious backgrounds who sacrificed much for our freedom. Joe Slovo and Ruth First are often mentioned, but there are also many others, including our great stalwarts Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko, Amina Cachalia, Ahmed Timol, Helen Joseph, Bram Fischer and thousands of others.

Every one of them engaged in the struggle and made sacrifices because they were African patriots and great human beings. They did not do so as a result of being Jewish, Christian, Muslim, white or black. Indeed, it does them a great disservice to highlight their race, ethnicity or religious orientation when commenting on their contributions to our collective freedom.

I am engaging you on these issues because I believe that too often we see the racism in others and fail to observe it in ourselves. It is important that we ask questions about our own inherent assumptions. It is also important that we do not allow our public discourse to be dominated by the right wing and racists on all sides, and allow it to spiral into a never-ending cycle of racism, tribalism, xenophobia and religious fundamentalism which our country and this world can ill afford. It is also important to call out our own when they begin to engage in racist diatribes.

This has been a painful episode for all of us. It has been totally embarrassing that one of our own could have reflected the very intolerance that this institution has stood against for all of its history. But perhaps if we use it as a learning experience, and a chance to internalise the non-racial that we so often espouse, then Mr Dlamini will have made a contribution to our community that he never intended.

Professor Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

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Letter to Students of Wits University from Wits Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Habib

May 4, 2015

Mr Dlamini appealed to me and asked that I defer his standing down from the SRC pending the outcome of a review of the disciplinary panel’s decision. I agreed, provided that the review was completed within 14 days. Unfortunately, this did not happen. I met Mr Dlamini on 22 April 2015 and informed him that it was not in the best interests of the University for him to continue to hold office while having a disciplinary finding against him. I gave him until 30 April 2015 to make written representations to me regarding why I should not withdraw my decision for him to continue in office.

Mr Dlamini then provided a motivation for an extension of my decision based on the argument that the delay in the legal process was the fault of the Legal Office. I believe that this argument is disingenuous since it appears that, inter alia, he did not submit the relevant documentation to the Legal Office with enough time before the hearing for the Legal Office and the Committee to properly consider his arguments. This leads me to believe that he is deliberately delaying a final decision until the end of his presidential tenure. To allow this to happen would be a violation of the SRC constitution and the principle of justice.

Therefore, after consultation with the Chair of Council, Dr Randall Carolissen, I have decided to withdraw my decision for Mr Dlamini to remain in office. As of immediately, he is required to stand down from his position in the SRC. Both Mr Dlamini and the SRC have been informed in this regard. Appropriate provisions will be made for the continued operations of the SRC.

For the purposes of clarity, I would also like to state that the separate matter of Mr Dlamini’s recent declaration of admiration for the fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, and what I believe to be racist comments regarding whites, did not influence my current decision to require him to step down. However, they cannot be ignored and I have referred the matter to the Legal Office for investigation. This matter will take its due course.

I would also like to make it categorically clear that I believe that these comments violate the fundamental values of Wits University and that Mr Dlamini has brought our institution into disrepute. His remarks have provoked multiple complaints from people of all racial, political and religious persuasions, including a petition demanding his immediate expulsion from the University. His subsequent engagements, including a Facebook post in which he threatened to kill an individual and his children, even though he may have been provoked, are in my view an indication that he lacks the maturity that is required of a student leader who is meant to represent a diverse and cosmopolitan community of over 30 000 students. As someone who claims to love this institution, I believe that Mr Dlamini has single-handedly wrought more damage on its reputation than any other person who I can think of in at least the last two decades. This damage has the potential to impact on the credibility of our degrees, and therefore on the employment prospects of all of our students and graduates.

There are some in our midst who have argued that the University’s principled commitment to free speech means that Mr Dlamini should not be sanctioned for his comments. I personally disagree. While I am committed to ensuring that Wits remains a free space for the contestation of ideas, including those with which we do not agree, I believe that the officials and leadership figures of this University must act in accordance with its values. Leadership in public institutions comes with responsibilities. It is incumbent on these leaders to act beyond their individual ambitions to the broader public interest. One is not compelled to seek office; one does so of one’s own volition. Therefore, one must be willing to take on the burdens of leadership as much as one experiences its privileges.

There are others who have argued that our responsibility in the case of errant behaviour by young leaders is to mentor and develop, rather than sanction. I concur, but mentorship and development can only be undertaken when a young leader is willing to learn. There has been continuous engagement with Mr Dlamini by many people over many months, and in my view, this has not yielded any change in his conduct.

Habib has so far allayed communal fears of posters threatening to shoot Jews – as was the case at Wits – with his firm hand on the rudder. How will he handle this one?

I am also of the view that one cannot forever appease leaders (young or old) who violate our values and resort to mobilising on the basest of human impulses. There must be consequences for their choices. Our failure as a society to hold such leaders accountable is partly why our institutions have begun to fray and why we are subjected to the challenges of corruption, violence, xenophobia, racism, sexism, inequality and exploitation. Wits cannot allow itself to repeat this mistake for it would destroy the very fabric of who we are.

I want to say that this has been a difficult decision, even if some do not want to believe it. However, it has brought two principles to the fore. Firstly, it is important to realise that we live in a constitutional democracy. Even if one is elected by popular vote, one’s behaviour must be in accordance with the values of the collective. Secondly, it is important for the full student community to participate in the SRC elections. The vast majority of our students do not participate in the elections and too many subsequently complain about their leadership and their responsiveness to student concerns. If you truly want a responsive leadership, then it is incumbent on you to take the initiative and participate in the democratic act of choosing your own leadership.

I have deliberately chosen to reflect on my reasons for withdrawing the decision that enabled Mr Dlamini to remain in the SRC, as well as his recent general conduct, because of our collective commitment to transparency. I believe that we cannot demand this of government and others if we are not prepared to live by this code in our own institutions.

Yours sincerely

Professor Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg