George Devenish
I refer to the meritorious letter in the Cape Times, “Rhodes Must Fall folly now spreads”, by FW de Klerk, former state president. What De Klerk explains in his letter is that it has become politically correct to malign Rhodes in order to obliterate him from our history so as to give expression to a fascist approach to the culture and language rights of minorities. Rhodes was by no stretch of the imagination an angel. His conduct and views, such as his description of Africans as “despicable specimens of human beings”, cannot be condoned and must be condemned as obscene racism.
However, Rhodes endowed to posterity the Rhodes Scholarship Trust by a bequest of £10 million.
These scholarships to Oxford University were to be awarded, according to his express wishes, to “outstanding persons without regard to race”. This flowed from his words that “I could never accept the position that we should disqualify a human being on account of his colour”. Considered in historical context Rhodes was indeed ambivalent and as a result an enigma.
The Rhodes Scholarship has become the most prestigious of its kind in the world today. Mandela, in his quest for reconciliation in South Africa, collaborated with the Rhodes Trust in establishing the Mandela Rhodes Foundation. He perceived this foundation as a means for transformation of our society “so grievously skewed by a history of colonialism and apartheid”. It combined both a quest for reconciliation and transformation.
In this regard we are confronted with those demanding the removal of statues relating to minorities, such as that of Totius, the Afrikaans poet, at the North West University, and President Kruger in Pretoria. They wish to impose a racial nationalism on South Africans and those, in contrast, who wish to act in accordance with the provisions of the constitution by respecting diversity, like Mandela, with the creation of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation. The Rhodes Scholarship legacy is part of an English South African heritage. Whether we like it or not the Trust is inseparable from the historical figure of Rhodes.
Our country is still in need of healing. We are a diverse nation and mutual tolerance and respect are essential to complete the process of healing. In this regard we need an intelligent discourse. Conduct and language that is fascist in nature does not contribute to such a discourse. What is essential is transformation. In this regard do we follow the Mandela paradigm as epitomised with the creation of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation or the one based on racial nationalism or black domination, as advocated by Malema and the EFF? The latter is in conflict with the principles and ethos of the constitution premised on recognition of diversity and non-racism.
Political correctness and fascist language and conduct should not be allowed to undermine the values and principles of our constitution facilitating reconciliation.
l Prof Devenish is an Academic at the University of KwaZulu-Natal