One of the Eastern Cape's prominent sons, Reverend Barney Pityana, has returned to the province to take up a post of Interim Rector at the Grahamstown-based College of Transfiguration.
In an exclusive interview with Grocott's Mail, Pityana spoke broadly about education, democracy and the role of the church.
One of the Eastern Cape's prominent sons, Reverend Barney Pityana, has returned to the province to take up a post of Interim Rector at the Grahamstown-based College of Transfiguration.
In an exclusive interview with Grocott's Mail, Pityana spoke broadly about education, democracy and the role of the church.
Pityana arrived in Grahamstown at the beginning of last week and he said he couldn't wait to rekindle his "long and strange relationship" with the town – which dates back to his days as a student at Fort Hare University during the 1960s.
In 1977 Pityana spent almost a year in detention in the Grahamstown prison. Pityana, who stepped down from his post as principal at the University of South Africa in December, says he was asked by Cape Town-based Anglican Archbishop, Thabo Makgoba, to take the College of Transfiguration on a "growth path".
The church had expressed its dissatisfaction with the services of the only institution that trained its priests and he said drastic changes should be expected at the college during his reign. He also said that during the next two years he would transform the college into an institution which not only offered theology diplomas, as was currently the case, but also issued theology degrees. He wants the college to affiliate to Rhodes University.
Pityana recognises that Grahamstown is one of few places which boast a university, a law fraternity and the church, and he hopes to combine these strengths to build the college in such a way that it would serve the Anglican Church better.
Pityana is the college's third rector of African descent since 1993, when then St Peter's, St Paul's and St Bede's colleges merged to form the present-day College of Transfiguration. He blamed the South African public education system for short-changing learners, saying "the government wants us to live in a fool's paradise". He said the system was producing learners with certificates, but no academic competencies.
Pityana ripped into the curriculum, arguing that subjects such as Life Orientation and Mathematical Literacy should be deemed non-examinable, as they took one nowhere. He argued that only 20% of 2010 matriculants stood to benefit from Further Education and Training and Higher Education, as the rest of them did not qualify.
He accused the current government of not being accountable and cited the overwhelming support that the ruling party enjoyed as the reason the ANC sometimes took the electorate for granted. He also expressed his misgivings about political parties, who said they were strengthening democracy in South Africa.
He argued that political parties and politicians were accountable only to themselves and not the general electorate. Pityana said that, like all democracies, South Africa was fragile and there was a need for the country to remain "ever vigilant".
He particularly stressed the need for intellectuals, regardless of their level of education, to make a meaningful contribution towards strengthening the country’s democracy. "The church is at the level most able to empower ordinary people," he said.
"I fear a totalitarian system, where the ANC controls everything." He criticised the Ministry of Justice’s proposal to remove the seat of the Eastern Cape high court to Bisho. The move was unnecessary, he said. "Bhisho should keep the seat of the provincial legislature and Grahamstown that of the high court."
