BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI | Our next leaders are being forged in the school of Molotov cocktails

Cretins masquerading as students at the University of Fort Hare this week barricaded roads, burnt tyres and set fire to buildings, causing damage estimated at almost R500m — all because they want the vice-chancellor, Prof Sakhela Buhlungu, to be fired. He’s apparently accused of having overstayed his welcome, corruption and running an incompetent administration.

The university had obtained an interim high court interdict against 10 student leaders alleged to be instigating the unrest at campuses in Alice and East London. The order barred them from organising protests, disrupting classes or intimidating others on campus.

The order was not merely disregarded: it fanned the anger of the protesters. They torched the administration and student affairs buildings, causing untold damage that cannot be measured only in monetary terms. How, for instance, will the records and the wealth of information destroyed by the fire be replaced?

The authorities had no alternative but to close the institution and order all students to leave the campus. Buhlungu said in a statement that “the actions of a few have endangered the safety of the entire university community”. He also alluded to the involvement of sinister forces from outside the university. Thousands of students whose sole ambition is to continue with their studies and make something of their lives now find themselves disadvantaged as a result of the moronic actions of a few.

The university, or anybody who has a say in the matter, should not cave in to such thuggery. There should be no mercy. The culprits should have the book firmly and forcefully thrown at them. To overlook such behaviour, make excuses or rationalise the destruction can only invite more such reprehensible conduct. The general lack of consequences for unbecoming behaviour in daily life is the biggest driver of criminality and lawlessness in the country. People keep offending because they know they’re not likely to be caught or held accountable.

Watching images of those huge flames consuming the buildings left one with a pit in the stomach. It was painful to watch. What type of morons would even think of doing such a thing? They should not be allowed to get away with it. This is supposed to be an academic environment where students learn to reason, to deploy their powers of persuasion to score points in a debate or win over people who disagree with them. But here they are, behaving like taxi drivers.

his is supposed to be an academic environment where students learn to reason, to deploy their powers of persuasion to score points in a debate or win over people who disagree with them. But here they are, behaving like taxi drivers

But the destruction also set one thinking. If the authorities or police cannot stop such localised violence, what would they do if the crisis spread? July 2021 tells us they would be powerless to quell it. That should fill us with dread. What is also disappointing is that such scenes are regarded as just part and parcel of another day in sunny South Africa. We’ve become accustomed to such awful behaviour. It would have been nice, for instance, to hear the president, just for once, expressing his disapproval.

Fort Hare is not just another university. Its storied history holds a special place in many a heart, having played a significant role not only in education but also in the political struggles that have shaped the region and beyond. It was the crucible that moulded many of those who went on to play major roles in the titanic struggles in the region — among them Oliver Tambo, Robert Sobukwe, Govan Mbeki, Nelson Mandela, Robert Mugabe, Seretse Khama and former Ugandan president Yusuf Lule. They arrived almost as political neophytes and left Fort Hare with a cause that became their life’s journey. Although some, like Mandela and Mangosuthu Buthelezi, didn’t finish their studies, Fort Hare had already planted a seed by the time they were expelled as a result of their political activities. Mandela later wrote that for him Fort Hare was “Oxford and Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, all rolled into one”. One wonders whether the vandals are aware of such a history, or even appreciate it. Theirs, it would seem, is simply to destroy.

This week is not the first time Fort Hare has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons in the recent past. In January 2023, Buhlungu’s bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, was shot dead during what appeared to have been an assassination attempt on the vice-chancellor. KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has told the Madlanga commission that the political killings task team was brought in to investigate murders at Fort Hare. Two alleged hitmen were arrested in June in connection with Vesele’s killing.

There have been reports of widespread fraud and corruption involving senior academics at the university, but to date nobody seems to have been held to account. The awarding of fraudulent degrees has even implicated Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane, who, it is alleged, received a master’s degree without even a cursory familiarity with the programme’s admission requirements. Mabuyane has denied the allegation.

But what happened at Fort Hare this week should not have come as a surprise. It’s part of the violent culture set in train by the so-called #FeesMustFall campaign that swept campuses 10 years ago. Although it began peacefully, the protest soon descended into violence with students prevented from attending classes, statues overturned and university buildings set alight. People who should have known better praised the protest as a new form of struggle. A year later the education department estimated that the total cost in damage to property from the protests at R600m. I may have missed something, but I don’t recall anybody being prosecuted for the carnage.

South Africa has been poorly served by its current leadership. But judging by what is happening at our institutions of higher learning, the next generation will be no better.