The Role of Public Universities: Examining one university's response to xenophobia

Abstract

On 19 May 2008, South Africans woke up to the horrifying image of a man engulfed in fire. This man, Ernesto Nhamuave, originally from Mozambique, was one of the 65 or more foreign nationals who would die in the following days in the xenophobic violence that swept Gauteng. By the end of the week, the violence had spread like wildfire throughout the country. This unprecedented violation of the rights of ‘others’ in South Africa bordered on human catastrophe and caught the government, public institutions and individuals by surprise – people did not know how to respond. 
 This article examines how the University of Cape Town (UCT) reacted to the crisis, and shows that it did so in a manner that suggested that UCT was grappling with appropriate ways of translating its commitment to being an engaged university into concrete action. UCT’s immediate response to the xenophobia crisis took the form of humanitarian aid designed to mitigate the suffering of thousands of people displaced by the violence. This article specifically focuses on the interventions of SHAWCO, a community development organisation run by students of UCT; the Refugee Rights Project; and the Department of Social Development. These initiatives were nominated by the faculties and student society representatives on the Social Responsiveness Working Group for inclusion in the 2008 Social Responsiveness Report at UCT. Representatives from these units were also represented on the Vice-Chancellor’s Crisis Response Committee.

Dissecting shelter for the displaced immigrants’ operations and challenges in the 2015 xenophobic violence in Durban

“…The above description concurs with Favish (2009) who opined that UCT provided legal services through the Refugee Rights Projects to respond to the incidences of human rights abuses during this catastrophe. In addition, the civil society groups such as the TAC provided food, clothes and legal aid to the displaced refugees during the 2008 xenophobic attacks (Robins, 2009) A SAPS official, project manager, member/liaison of the Strategic Planning Committee had this to say concerning the conditions in the shelters for the displaced: spent a few days inspecting the shelters with a special interest in the Isipingo one, where from day one the people there were completely against the whole atmosphere, the set-up, the environment and the surroundings.…”

“…In addition, universities such as UCT played a crucial role in responding to the 2008 xenophobic attacks. For instance, Favish (2009) mentioned that a host of South Africans responded to the 2008 xenophobic attacks and assisted the displaced immigrants. The author opines that UCT's response was in the form of humanitarian aid tailor-made to mitigate the adverse effect of xenophobia.…”

“…The author opines that UCT's response was in the form of humanitarian aid tailor-made to mitigate the adverse effect of xenophobia. According to Favish (2009), the Faculty of Health Sciences galvanised resources from different departments and centres within the university including the medical personnel and the Refugee Rights Projects to respond to the incidents of human rights abuses and provided protocols for assisting and dealing with the refugees. In addition, the Department of Social Development was mobilised to provide psychological counselling services to the displaced people, and seminars and discussions were introduced which were incorporated into the teaching programmes.…”

University Infrastructures for Peace in Africa: The Transformative Potential of Higher Education in Conflict Contexts

“…A critical component of every university’s mission is that of community engagement: “the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities…for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity” (Driscoll, 2008, p. 39). Increasingly, researchers connect the concept of university engagement with crisis in fragile contexts (Johnson, 2013, 2017; Favish, 2009). In both of the cases described here, different forms of engagement with the community were critical, from the institution’s perspective, to establishing policies that had implications not only for addressing conflict but also for establishing peace, on campus and in the community.…”