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Back Forging social cohesion one of SA’spersistent challenges After 24 years of democracy, South Africa still pursues the reversal of apartheid legacy where the challenge of territorial segregation seems to consume the country’s efforts of achieving an equal society Deliberating on strategies towards a united nation, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning at the University of Limpopo (UL), Professor Richard Madadzhe says if South Africa is to achieve social cohesion people should learn one or more languages. Madadzhe told the Freedom Month Dialogue at UL hosted by the School of Social Sciences in collaboration with the Department of Arts and Culture in Limpopo, which aims to promote a critical engagement and assessment of the challenges that hinder democracy, values of eradicating inequality, poverty, unemployment, and racism, among others. Professor Sekgothe Mokgoatšana, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences said that apartheid left many people disoriented, displaced, and alienated from one another.  Mokgoatšana says the university is
doing its utmost to construct a curriculum that will embrace
diversity and allow students to not only see themselves as belonging
to particular tribes but also see themselves as belonging to one race
- the human race. Board Member of Safer South Africa Foundation, Reverend Dr Tshenuwani Farisani says he has had a share of apartheid regime’s brutality. To him, the racial segregation started when people were dispossessed of their land and classified into ethnic groups. According to him, the starting point would be to mix people in every dealings of the community development without referring to one’s ethnicity. Ashantewa Archer-Ngidi, Director of Institute of Afrikology at the Durban University of Technology shares Farisani’s sentiments. She says the classification manufactured inferior and superior complexes among the various races in South Africa. For her, addressing the social divides cannot be done outside the politics pertaining to identity, but she believes being proud of one’s identity is the foundation to discursive engagements. Hopewell Mathonsi, School Council Chairperson for School of Social Sciences , adds that the promotion of social cohesion should start at institutions of higher learning, where leadership is being bred, because of the huge intake from various backgrounds. Date created:2018-05-04 09:53:26 |