Litnet

"Irrespective of whether fees have fallen or disappeared altogether, or even the merits of such a campaign, a university education is just not possible without universities – or university structures, like libraries."

"At the heart of the matter are two interlinked concepts and realities which manifest themselves in all aspects of the South African “way of life”: the pervasiveness of structural inequality and white supremacy in our daily lives."

"The drama we are seeing is that we are asking the university to do things it was never meant to do. I mean welfare is the domain of the state, it is not the domain of the university. We can’t be asking the university to do things it was not designed to do."

"The South African movements of 2015–2016 show some of the dangers and difficulties of negotiating in the new media world and of moving from representative student government to a post-truth social media environment where there are no formal gatekeepers."

"Authors like Neville Alexander, Vincent Maphai, Allister Sparks and Sampie Terreblanche have produced important publications in which the 'miracle' of our transition is analysed from various perspectives."

"Unperturbed by local-level drama, almost as if local elections 2016 had not happened, life in the Zuma lane of South African politics continues."

"These young leaders are ysters. We should all aspire to be active in our communities, just as they are."

"While it is true that white racism and attitudes of supremacy are still present to an unacceptable degree, it is not the crucial problem in South Africa right now."

"Consultation, for want of a better word, with the universities alone is not enough. The matter should have been subject to systematic public discussion."

"So what’s up with the hesitation to speak Afrikaans publicly? Or to conduct interviews about politics in Afrikaans? Or speak about the magic of books in Afrikaans?"

"Afrikaans, one of the youngest languages in the world, will be extinct in less than a century from now."

"Piracy has provided us with endless entertainment options."

The vandalising of close to 30 schools through arson and other means in Vuwani from late in April to early May left the nation puzzled. Hans Pienaar spoke to a resident who prefers to remain anonymous, as he fears for his safety.

"In the above, the interdependence between me, the writer, and you, the reader; between Kropotkin and Darwin; between Fourie and Ramose; and so between different human populations and the primacy of humane, ethical and equitable relations is thus the only discernible law of nature according to ubuntu and African philosophy."

"Having come out of apartheid and decades of censorship, as a society we are incredibly wary of any kind of censorship, particularly if it comes from institutions. As we should be. But in almost every case where white South African visual artists have screamed 'censorship' I’ve struggled to locate institutional/governmental censorship ..."

"Acquiring new artworks and curating desirable images and objects is the easy part. The hard part is changing the inner workings of the actual institution, not just the look of the institution."

"One way to decolonise objects in a meaningful way is to let go of the Ozymandian idea that art has to last in one form, for all time, in order to have meaning or force. After fire, new things grow."

"I am totally opposed to the kind of direct action that was taken in Cape Town and now in other places. It precludes discussion and I think a democracy is based on the idea that when you have differences you can talk about it … it’s fundamental …"

"On a more constructive note, colonial artworks can be curated in such a way that they reveal and expose the inner workings of colonialism. They can be set in dialogue with contemporary works that bring out fresh valences in their content or they can be used as conceptual raw material for the creation of radical new artworks."

"Let the art prevail, colonial or not colonial. This is an expression of how certain artists interpreted what they saw at certain times in history."