The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution in higher education for black Africans from 1916 to 1959. It offered a Western-style, academically excellent education to students from across sub-Saharan Africa, creating a black African elite. Fort Hare alumni were part of many subsequent independence movements and governments of newly independent African countries.

In 1959, the university was subsumed by the apartheid system, but it is now part of South Africa's post-apartheid public higher education system. The University's main campus is located on the Tyhume river, in a town known as Alice in English and Dikeni in Xhosa language. It is in the Eastern Cape Province about 50 km west of King Williams Town (or eQonce) in a region that for a while was known as the "independent" Bantustan of Ciskei. In 2011, the Alice campus had some 6400 students. A second campus at the Eastern Cape provincial capital of Bhisho was built in 1990 and hosts a few hundred students, while the campus in East London, acquired through incorporation in 2004, has some 4300 students. The University has five faculties (Education, Law, Management & Commerce, Science & Agriculture, Social Sciences & Humanities) all of which offer qualifications up to the doctoral level.

The Fort[link]

A building at the University of Fort Hare.

History[link]

Originally, Fort Hare was a British fort in the wars between British and the Xhosa of the 19th century. Some of the ruins of the fort are still visible today, as well as graves of some of the British soldiers who died while on duty there. Missionary activity (James Stewart) led to the creation of a school for missionaries from which at the beginning of the 20th century the university resulted. In accord with its Christian principles, fees were low and heavily subsidised. Several scholarships were also available for indigent students.

University[link]

Fort Hare is one of the oldest universities in southern Africa, and was the first Western-style tertiary education institution in the whole continent to be open to non-white students. (African madrasahs have been teaching Islam and other subjects, at a scholarly level, to all races since the 9th century.) A number of notable students have attended Fort Hare, including some who were expelled for protests during the period of white minority rule and thus did not graduate.

Ranking[link]

Anti-apartheid activity[link]

In the struggle years there was much anti-apartheid activity, including the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko. A few students became politically active and opposed the apartheid authorities who enjoyed the unqualified support of the Fort Hare authorities since it became a University in 1972.

University of Fort Hare Strategic Plans[link]

Following a period of decline in the 1990s, Professor Derrick Swarts was appointed as Vice-Chancellor with the task of re-establishing the University on a sound footing. The programme launched by Prof. Swartz was the UFH Strategic Plan 2000. The plan was meant to address the universities financial situation and academic quality standards simultaneously. The focus of the university was narrowed and consequently 5 faculties remained:

• Education
• Science & Agriculture
• Social Sciences & Humanities
• Management & Commerce
• Law

Further narrowing the focus, 14 institutes were founded to deal with specific issues, such as the UNESCO Oliver Tambo Chair of Human Rights. Through their location the institutes have excellent access to poor rural areas, and consequently emphasis is placed on the role of research in improving quality of life and economic growth (and especially sustainable job creation). Among the outreach programmes, the Telkom Centre of Excellence maintains a "living laboratory" of 4 schools at Dwesa on the Wild Coast, which have introduced computer labs and internet access to areas that until 2005 did not even have electricity. The projects at Dwesa focus research on Information and Communication for Development (ICD).

Incorporation of Rhodes University's former campus in East London in 2004 gave the University an urban base and a coastal base for the first time. Subsequent growth and development on this campus have been rapid. Initial developments of the new multi-campus university were guided by a three-year plan; currently the University is following the new "Strategic Plan 2009-2016", set to take the institution to its centennial year.

Notable alumni[link]

(Others, unknown DOB)

• Tiyo Soga - religion, Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Africa
• K. Mokhele - science
• Don Ncube - business

See also[link]

• List of universities in South Africa

External links[link]

• Official website

v t e South African universities University alliances: CHEC · FOTIM · HESA · SERA Traditional universities Cape Town · Fort Hare · Free State · KwaZulu-Natal · Limpopo · Monash · North-West · Pretoria · Rhodes · Stellenbosch · Western Cape · Witwatersrand Comprehensive universities Johannesburg · Nelson Mandela · Unisa · Venda · Walter Sisulu · Zululand Universities of technology Cape Peninsula · Central · Durban · Mangosuthu · Tshwane · Vaal Related DHEAT · SAQA · Chancellors and vice-chancellors · Rankings Category · List

v t e University of Fort Hare People Chancellor:Thembile Skweyiya · Vice-chancellor:Mvuyo Tom · Notable academics · Notable alumni

Coordinates: 32°47′S 26°53′E / 32.783°S 26.883°E / -32.783; 26.883

Dr Bonginkosi Emmanuel "Blade" Nzimande (born April 14, 1958) is a South African politician who has been Minister for Higher Education and Training since 2009.^[1] He has been the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party since 1998.^[2][3] He has a doctorate degree in philosophy specialising in sociology. He came out strongly against the concept of Nationalisation at the COSATU conference in June 2011.

Birth and family[link]

Nzimande was born in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, on 14 April 1958. "Blade" Nzimande was one of the three children of Nozipho Alice and Phillip Sphambano, a Shangaan herbalist from Mozambique.

Education[link]

Nzimande attended the Roman Catholic School, Henryville, and then Plessiers Lower Primary School before going to Mthethomusha School in Edendale, the first school in the area established under the new Bantu education system. He matriculated in 1975 at Georgetown High, Edendale.

While at school participated in youth clubs which were gatherings for cultural and sporting events, and were not particularly political in nature. He first became politically aware when Harry Gwala was released from Robben Island prison in 1973 and this was widely discussed in his community.

He completed his Psychology Honours degree at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, in 1980. His Masters degree is in Industrial Psychology (1981) and more recently he has been awarded a PhD for a thesis in the field of personnel management from the University of Natal.

Political Demonstrations[link]

In 1976 Nzimande enrolled at the University of Zululand to study towards a BA degree, majoring in Public Administration and Psychology. He became involved in student activity, including a food boycott and demonstrations against the award of an honorary doctorate to Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi in May 1976. During that time the Black Consciousness-oriented South African Students' Organization (SASO) was prominent on campus, but Nzimande's political views later shifter towards the Congress Alliance.

Following the shooting of demonstrating students in Soweto on 16 June 1976, the administration building of the university was burnt down and the university subsequently closed down for a period. Nzimande returned to university in 1977 and completed his degree in 1979. After graduating, he returned to Edendale and joined the Azanian Students’ Organisation (Azaso) which eventually broke away from the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), aligning itself with the Congress or Charterist tendency.

For Nzimande the shift from BCM to the Chartersist position was facilitated by weekly Zulu broadcasts from Radio Freedom and Radio Moscow. In this way he and his colleaques became acquainted with the policy of the African National Congress (ANC) and they started to receive underground ANC documents. While active in Azaso Nzimande completed his Honours and Masters degrees.

Work[link]

In January 1982 Nzimande moved to Durban, and at that stage was active in the Dambuza Youth Organisation which affiliated to the United Democratic Front (UDF) after its launch in 1983.

In 1982 Nzimande undertook his internship in Industrial Psychology in the personnel department of Tongaat Hulett Sugar Ltd. There he met Jay Naidoo and began working informally with unions, addressing union seminars on job grading and other issues. He resigned his job in 1984.

Nzimande was the offered a post as a lecturer at the Umlazi branch of the University of Zululand where he founded the Department of Industrial Psychology on that campus. At the same time, he became increasingly involved with the trade unions and served on the editorial board of the South African Labour Bulletin in 1986. He also continued to assist with trade unions seminars teaching the history of trade unionism.

Lecturer[link]

In Umlazi he began to work on educational issues in mid-1986 and also held clandestine Marxist study classes with the youth. Nzimande lectured until June 1987 and then joined the University of Natal, Durban to lecture in the Psychology Department. There he became involved in the Culture and Working Life Project, and initiated the cultural actitivities of the Dumbuzo Cultural Organisation which produced a play on violence, Koze Kube Nini (Until When?), performed in the townships. He also wrote various articles on violence, and assisted in the presentation of seminars.

Mbeki[link]

Dr. Nzimande criticized the government of Thabo Mbeki and its economic policy, and he was vocal in his support for the removal of Mbeki as President of South Africa.^[4]

SACP Donation[link]

In 2007 Malawian businessman Charles Modise claimed he made a R500,000 donation to the South African Communist Party in 2002. He claimed he gave the money, packed in black plastic bags, to Willy Madisha, who in turn swore he transported the money in the boot of his car to SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande. However, Nzimande denied ever receiving the money. ^[5][6]

Kgalema Motlanthe[link]

Nzimande began to attack President Kgalema Motlanthe in early January 2009. Saying he was part of the "old Mbeki crowd", senior ANC members loyal to Jacob Zuma called for Nzimande to become second Deputy President, alongside Baleka Mbete. President Motlanthe was also attacked by Nzimande because he fired Vusi Pikoli in 2008, and refused to sign the SABC bill, which would give the ANC full control of State Television.

References[link]

• "Who is Who in South African Politics," by Shelagh Gastrow, 1995, Rovan Press, Johannesburg,