Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr David Masondo delivered a Memorial Lecture on the legacy of Jabulani “Mzala” Nxumalo, in commemoration of the meaningful contributions he has made to the struggle against social injustices through his writings. The lecture was a part of the fourth Transformation Summit held by the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) on 27 and 28 October 2022, under the theme: “Advancing Transformation in Higher Education Within the Context Continued Consequences of Segregation”.
Dr Masondo focused his lecture on Mzala as a theorist and strategist under the topic of demystifying the interconnectedness of race, gender, and class in the context of higher education transformation in South Africa.
“I’m going to talk about Mzala as a theorist and a strategist, and in doing so try to also unpack these big concepts, the national question, class and gender. One of the things that Nxumalo was passionate about in terms of writing and theorising and strategising was the class question and the national question. And for me to lay a good foundation for us to continue to have this conversation, it’s important for us to have some conceptual clarity on what you mean by national question and the class question, what is gender? So that we are speaking about the same thing,” said Dr Masondo.
He added that in the context of our transformation we need to take the question of class very seriously. “Transformation here at CUT will also depend largely on the actors here at the university because you cannot cook the rice outside the pot, the rice must be cooked here for us to have a product that will finally say this is a transformed university.
“Yes, as government we will set a conducive environment from outside, we have a responsibility to make sure that we pass the necessary laws and policies, but also provide the necessary funding to make sure that transformation happens.”
