Remembereing Jakes – Chancellor, our chancellor

by Saleem Badat, City Press

The death of Rhodes University chancellor Jakes Gerwel will leave a big void in many people’s lives

One of the first messages of condolences following the death of Rhodes University chancellor Prof Jakes Gerwel came from a retired academic who said he was “a good and great man. He will be hard to replace”.

Saleem Badat on 'The Forgotten People'

Black Man, You are on Your Own

Saleem Badat

by Saleem Badat, 2010

Black Man Was Truly on his Own

a review by Don Makatile, The Sowetan

Bruce Waters, operations manager at the Biko Foundation, says the words were actually from the mouth of one Nyameko Barney Pityana, a long-time Biko ally.

It is a fitting title to the scholarly look into the role and identity of the SA Students Organisation (Saso), a body of which Biko was elected national president at its inaugural launch in July 1969.

Black Student Politics: higher education and apartheid from SASO to SANSCO

Black Student Politics

by Saleem Badat, 2002, via SA History Online

It is generally recognised that mass popular struggles during the 1970s and 1980s played a pivotal role in eroding apartheid and creating the conditions for the transition to democracy in South Africa. However, few works on political resistance to apartheid and capitalism during this period have provided a detailed analysis of a specific movement or organisation - its historical development, social base, ideological and political character, role and contribution, immediate and more long-term significance, the specificity of the particular social sphere and terrain it occupied and its movement and activities on this terrain.

Our Dar Moment

Race and Education Roundtable, Rhodes University, July 2011

Nigel C. Gibson (Click here to read the version of this talk published in the Mail & Guardian)

1. What will be our Dar moment?¹

 In a recent commencement speech Saleem Badat, the vice chancellor of Rhodes University, called on graduates to put their knowledge and expertise to work “for the benefit of society at large” through “ethical conduct, impeccable integrity, visionary endeavour, selfless public service and commitment to people and responsibilities.”