Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Ukhuphiswano lwenginqgi iSarah Baartman oluxhaswa ngabakwa-SAB
  • A cry, a smile, a dance
  • A high-functioning high school forsaken by the Department of Education
  • If you’re good enough, you’re old enough
  • Beyond just “16 Days” of Activism against Gender-Based Violence
  • Amazwi Museum celebrates African Language week
  • TEM Mrwetyana faces dire desk, chair and teacher shortages
  • What’s on – 02- 09 February 
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»Déjà vu for banned Desai
Uncategorized

Déjà vu for banned Desai

_Gr0cCc0Tts_By _Gr0cCc0Tts_February 27, 20061 Comment3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Dr Ashwin Desai, who is barred from the University of KwaZulu- Natal, will take up a lecturing post at Rhodes.

Dr Ashwin Desai, who is barred from the University of KwaZulu- Natal, will take up a lecturing post at Rhodes.

Dean of Humanities, Professor Fred Hendricks, confirmed that Desai has accepted a short-term contract position lecturing on Industrial Sociology at the university, starting in the second term.

Desai said yesterday that he was “full of nostalgia” about coming back to Rhodes after 20 years. “The timing is quite wonderful,” he said.

“It will be wonderful to meet people I respect a lot, such as Guy Berger and Fred Hendricks. I’m so overwhelmed.”

Desai was banned from UKZN last year after a dispute with the Vice-Chancellor, Malegapuru Makgoba, over his application for a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) grant to research race and redress in South African sport.

Makgoba told Desai to resign his position as an honorary research fellow at the Centre for Civil Society in order to be eligible for the grant, which Desai did. Makgoba, however, allegedly instructed the HSRC selection committee not to consider Desai’s application, and further barred Desai from occupying any other position at UKZN.

Makgoba’s decision is believed to be based on a prior agreement between Desai and the University of Durban Westville.

Desai faced disciplinary charges in 1996 for his role as a trade unionist in protests against the university.

The agreement saw the dropping of disciplinary charges against Desai, provided he resigned as a lecturer and did not come on to campus without the VC’s permission.

The ban was subsequently revoked in 2004 by then-Vice-Chancellor Saths Cooper. Speaking about his controversial banning, Desai said the decision will “haunt the University of KwaZulu-Natal”.

He claims: “It is a matter of principle. People shouldn’t be banned [from academic institutions].”
He denounced Makgoba’s argument that “the university is a place of technical issue and facts, and not politics” as “absolute hogwash”.

“Technical issues are political issues. Therefore, Makgoba’s argument is a political one.”

Desai hopes to start his research on South African sport while lecturing at Rhodes, and also wants to follow up on research he conducted into the motor industry some years back. He added that he is looking forward to returning to Grahamstown and experiencing a sense of déjà vu.

“I am sure that the university and city will have changed considerably, but it is wonderful to know that things like Grocott’s Mail are still around.”
 

Previous ArticleOrphans eat rats and weeds
Next Article Rhodes archers take home the gold
_Gr0cCc0Tts_

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.