Pro-VC of Social Cohesion:
Relebohile Moletsane
Social Cohesion – Addressing Inequality and Promoting National Building
Social Cohesion Research Flagship Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Relebohile Moletsane, believes one of the main reasons is that race relations have never really been “sorted out” – even though apartheid was abolished on paper amid grand pronouncements about the birth of a new Rainbow Nation.
“Now, 25 years later, we are almost back to square one,” said Moletsane. “I don’t think we had the necessary conversations about several issues, including the supposed superiority or inferiority of different race groups”.
Over this period, she notes, the growth in equality between rich and poor has also not been reversed.
“But even though 25 years have passed, it is still not too late to have those conversations. We still don’t listen to the other side so we need to start teaching ourselves to talk and also how to listen.”
However, Moletsane believes these conversations need to happen outside formal political formations. “I am happy to engage with the Department of Arts and Culture for example; but not with the ANC, the DA or the EFF. Unfortunately, organised politics is the domain where this problem of ‘not listening’ is often most apparent”.
” If so, can academia still influence the course of politics and nation-building? The flagships are not meant to be academic only,” said Moletsane.
“The intention is to influence policy at the municipal, provincial or national level and to initiate coherent research work and community engagement which aim to address inequality and nurture social cohesion in institutions, communities and society.
“This includes inequalities based on ethnicity, gender, class, nationality, age, disability and other ‘differences’ that continue to engender discrimination, marginalisation and conflict, including violence and crime.”
In terms of the UKZN Strategic Plan 2017- 2021, this research flagship aims to tackle factors that sustain inequality of opportunity and outcomes by building capabilities, removing barriers and redressing the wrongs of the past.
“UKZN will focus on leveraging successes in these areas for translation into real achievements for our citizens and communities, with an emphasis on the poorest of the poor and marginalised communities,” the UKZN 2017-2021 Strategic Plan states.
This Flagship will also function as a hub for community engagement and dialogue; facilitating conversations within UKZN, between UKZN and various communities, as well as national and international dialogues aimed at understanding and addressing inequality and promoting social cohesion and nation building.
The Flagship also aims to train and support a cohort of postgraduate students, researchers and practitioners who will contribute towards research and community engagement initiatives aimed at understanding the issues and finding or developing solutions.
“I think there are creative ways of enabling people to talk to one another. It does not have to be a formal conference or seminar because there are other spaces such as sport or art, for example, where we can get to understand one another better,” said Moletsane.
“We are trying to see where the flagships interrelate, for example, with youth, inequality or land in order to enable a more intelligent, scholarly discussion,” she said.
Moletsane also believes there is a need for the University to consider new methodological innovations for community outreach projects.
“We can’t rely on interviews or questionnaires only. We need to be innovative, to open up new spaces. I think we can also do more to teach university students to help them become employed. Currently, we don’t teach them to be entrepreneurs and I don’t think we have changed our curricula sufficiently.”
Moletsane suggests that in trying to open up spaces for further discussions, it is “more about rethinking how we work, rather than adding more work”. She feels strongly that the issue of social cohesion and nation-building should begin within UKZN, as a microcosm of society.
“I am talking about the way we talk and coexist with each other at UKZN. We have a lot to do within the University itself before we think we can tackle the society around us.”
This will require a lot of creativity, she says, referring to a concept called Art Hive initiated by McGill University in Canada.
Moletsane, who has visited the Art Hive, says McGill University adjoins a local refugee centre for those displaced from countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Congo and Haiti.
“So they bring in children from the refugee centre to produce art and also to talk in a new, casual space about their experience of fleeing their countries or about what it is like to be on the run.”