More rules to the SA race game - Story for Journ

A story I wrote for an Online Writing assignment for Journalism 1:

Nestled on the slopes of Table Mountain stands one of Africa's top higher education institutions, the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Over the past century, it has produced distinguished graduates such as the late Professor Christiaan Barnard, a world-renowned heart surgeon, as well as Nobel laureates such as Sir Aaron Klug and novelist J M Coetzee.

UCT is a prestigious and internationally recognised institution, but what has tainted its reputation somewhat is its insistence on applying a controversial race based admissions policy. At the heart of the problem is the management's widely held belief that "race is a proxy for disadvantage".

To stand a realistic chance to study for the MBChB degree at Cape Town, white pupils must get at least 90% in five matric subjects, 80% in the sixth and 80% in a national benchmark test. African pupils, on the other hand, who get 70%-79% in six subjects and at least 50% in the benchmark test, stand a good chance of securing a place.

Vice-Chancellor of UCT, Dr Max Price writes in an article entitled “Is there a place for race at a university?” that he “does not dispute that policies using race or disadvantage will reduce the number of white students gaining entry. But we must not forget the context in which white students still currently have accesses to higher education”.

An example of such a scholar is first year medic student Zanré Nell, who is currently studying at the University of Witwatersrand. Nell applied to UCT in 2009 with 9 distinctions in subjects such as Science, Mathematics and Biology. She was also the leader of various committees and sports. “I thought I would have been easily accepted into UCT, I felt rather rejected” says Nell.

In opposition to Price, and in support of students like Nell, Professor Neville Alexander, director of PRAESA, wrote an article in response to Price entitled “We’ll pay the price for race cowardice”. He mentioned that having such a policy would be a “disastrous moment in the history of higher education in South Africa”. Nell echoes Alexander; “When I was rejected, it felt like I was in the old South Africa. UCT need to eliminate the issues of the past”.

In a Sunday Times article entitled “UCT urged to scrap race criteria” Alexander rebuttals to Price’s comments stating that the admission points score should be the same for all pupils. "I don't believe in this nonsense of race. It's silly and unnecessary; we need to find a better alternative” says Alexander.

Perhaps Alexander is right, but looking at it from a black student’s point of view, the situation proves to provoke sympathy for both sides. Lusanda Zibaya, a medical student at UCT says the race-based policy is “merely a way to try to assist those smart kids who come from disadvantaged areas but have done significantly well considering their educational circumstances”.

South Africa has toiled for over a decade at becoming a democratic, non-racial and multicultural country. However this cannot happen overnight. Of course, UCT cannot expect a calm response from people when they use race as a proxy for disadvantage; it essentially perpetuates racial identity. But by selecting more black students, UCT is certainly taking the step to transform society and erase the stereotypes that black people are disadvantaged.

Keeping the peace on the Jammie stairs

Nevertheless, where is the line drawn? New students are still required when applying for admission, to classify themselves according to race. Consequently, Nell and many others feel that by ticking the “white” box, they lessen their chances of getting a seat in a lecture theatre.

Debates continue, but it is hard to tell when the day will come that students like Nell and Zibaya will not feel disadvantaged to one another in any way.

The crux of the matter remains; when will South Africa and its education system finally put the bitter issue of race to past and back out of the race game entirely?

(See live debate on UCT campus or televised debate on ETV for full coverage of the debates)