Johannesburg - Several senior South African and African academics have come out in support of embattled newly-appointed director of the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Adam Habib, over his use of the N-word during a webinar.
Habib has agreed to “step aside” while the matter is being investigated.
Stellenbosch University academic and former vice-chancellor of the University of Free State, Professor Jonathan Jansen, said the controversy was ridiculous because the question that had to be asked was whether there was bad intent. Clearly, Jansen said, there wasn't.
He surmised the context of the controversy was that a student had asked about an N-word that was used by a lecturer for whom there had been no consequence, and that Habib had pointed out it was unacceptable according to SOAS policy, asking for it to be brought to his attention so action would be taken.
In the process Habib used the full word, prompting the student to remark that he was not black, and therefore could not use that word. A furore erupted because of a “selectively doctored” video, with students then demanding the dismissal of Habib.
“To tell me Adam is not black, is bulls*** . We all grew up under the Black Consciousness Movement, it was in much of South Africa, that being black is not the same as white, so for a bunch of young British people to tell Adam Habib you can’t reference the term (black) in context of social justice is ridiculous,” he said.
The furore over Habib took a new twist on 23 March when staff members belonging to the trade union for professional and support staff SOAS UNISON hijacked the student protest over the N-word to call an emergency general meeting where they voted 98% in favour on passing a vote of no-confidence in Habib.
But Habib is not short of support in South Africa and on the African continent. Jansen referred to Mark Mathabane’s 1986 book Kaffir Boy, which was a bestseller, and Dick Gregor’s called Nigger: An autobiography published in 1964, both actual titles of books which sold well and did not prompt an outcry.
“I am puzzled by why this becomes a problem,” he said.
What has changed in the world, according to Jansen, is that you have a group of social media activists who think they can decide what is acceptable and what is not, who is black, and who is not, and who can or cannot use the N-word.
He said this was exceptionally dangerous, but Habib was using the word simply to make the point, that is unacceptable and there would be action. “Should Adam have used the word? No! I don’t think anyone should be using the word today, regardless of whether you’re white or black. That is why I am critical when rap artists use the N-word. But what was the intent? The intent was not to slander, the intent was to say that this is something I will take action against as a university leader.”
Jansen said while Habib had immediately apologised, the nature of the world is such that a slur like that could cost one one’s job, simply because institutions like SOAS don't know how to deal with this new movement that uses social media to catch people out, even when the intention is to seek social justice.
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, current University of the Witwatersrand vice-chancellor, who replaced Habib earlier this year, said to call Habib racist was far-fetched and unfair.
“We’ve had many disagreements, but as a team we were able to work together, like any good team, we had a fantastic relationship, I hold him in high regard as a former boss and a friend,” Vilakazi said.
Vilakazi praised Habib’s anti-apartheid credentials, saying he was detained and deported from several countries, as well as for challenging the politics of other countries. “He helped me manage the transition from DVC to vice-chancellor with dignity and grace, that is the Adam I know.”
Ernest Aryeetey, the secretary-general of African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and a former vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana, said he found the circumstances around the use of the N-word unfortunate.
Aryeetey said he knew Habib for the entire period that he was vice-chancellor at Wits University, engaged with him both professionally and socially, and was very much aware of his views on such matters as race and social relations. “I see Adam Habib as very much a progressive, visionary anti-racist academic and administrator.”
Speaking in his personal capacity as an academic, colleague and comrade of Habib for more than three decades, Ahmed Bawa, the chief executive of Universities South Africa, said he could vouch for his (Habib’s) dedication and commitment to the struggle for freedom and social justice.
"I hold him in the highest regard as an academic and as a university leader. While one may not always agree with him, I have known him as being a person of great integrity," Bawa said.
Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand and the founding chairman of Mbekani Group, Judy Dlamini, said she had worked with Habib for two years. “The Adam I worked with is not a racist. I don’t understand what happened at SOAS. I hope he’ll be given an opportunity to make things right. We all make mistakes, we live and learn,” she said.
A senior academic at SOAS speaking on condition of anonymity said that people who understood the South African race context and anti-apartheid struggle would be all too familiar with the reality that the N-word is not a racist lexicon in the country. Rather it is the K word that holds more racialised and racist weight. It is all too easy to take a short clip in a charged environment not set up for dialogue to argue that Habib suggested South Africans use the N-word at will against black people. That is not what he said, the academic said.
The academic understood him to be referencing the context – South Africa in which the N-word does not hold the same salience. To say this is not to ignore that in a global university such as SOAS there is a black diasporic community for whom the verbalisation of this word by anyone who is not African or Afro-descendant even if it is to say they will take action against anyone using the word hits a raw nerve. “Is there a cultural sensitivity issue for Habib to take away from this situation – absolutely.”
The academic said that anti-Habib forces were mobilising before he was offered the job and interestingly that campaign was not led by black or African students.
The conversation about what action must be taken against Habib is being sullied by the South African #FeesMustFall movement and the Economic Freedom Fighters which means that those who are here are listening to analysis that represents one version that is anti-Habib.
The academic said being a leader from Africa with an ambitious internationalisation agenda that centres on the Global South is deemed not good enough because he was one of several South African VCs who responded to protests with policing, protests that were about the failure of the state to provide equitable education and live up to the ANC’s 1994 promise.
While Habib’s vision is premised on building international partnerships as a way to address global inequalities, including the Global South, the academic notes that many do not understand the contradiction around claiming Habib is racist because the anti-Habib brigade is simply not interested in his vision.
If Adam Habib leaves after six weeks on the job there is no one who will touch this job or this university, the academic warned. “If they do, it will be an old white establishment British man and in that case SOAS will have to confront what its larger politics about race is.”
* This article was first published on the University World News site.