"Culture clashes loom over the forthcoming merger of Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (known as Puk) and the University of the North West (Uniwest) in Mmabatho — two very different institutions. Puk is a bastion of Afrikaner culture and the Potchefstroom campus is 72% white. By contrast, Uniwest is culturally largely Tswana, and its student body is almost entirely black." http://archive.mg.co.za/MGArchive/FrameSet.asp?xhitlist_q=unisa&f=xhitlist&xhitlist_x=Advanced&xhitlist_s=contents&xhitlist_d=&xhitlist_hc=&xhitlist_xsl=xhitlist.xsl&xhitlist_vpc=first&xhitlist_sel=title%3Bpath%3Brelevance-weight%3Bcontent-type%3Bhome-path%3Bhome-title%3Btitle-path$vid=MailGuard:MailGuardView&npusername=MailGuard&nppassword=MailGuard
Hi Charles: But that was the point of the merger. If all that exists can be destabilized, it can then be reconstructed in accordance with the vision of the Minister of Education. This worked for the Nats in the 50's and 60's; it will likely work for the ANC now. I have had extensive correspondence with faculty in two universities subjected to this merger forced march; the results have been very negative. PUK was a particular target because it was Afrikaner and explicitly Christian.
Thank you Uncle Janko, Thank you for your thoughtful insight. I am only now beginning to learn a little about South Africa. I do not know enough to have an opinion of the mergers and did not intend to express one with this post. However, I do occasionally check the Mail and Guardian for news on the UNISA merger. Which is how I came across this article.
Small town Canada is being doctored by Afrikaner MDs. I think lots of other professions will follow. South Africa has been one of the few examples of responsible government in that part of the world. I don't know if destroying Afrikaner symbols will accomplish anything other than encouraging an exodus of the middle classes, who maybe won't be replaced in any timely manner.
Hi again Charles: You might also want to check iol.co.za for online news. M&G is fairly left-wing and IOL is somewhat more balanced, since it draws on several different papers. Like M&G, you can get a daily "paper" for free. I think that UNISA is so dominant in its merger and well-enough liked by the guvmint that it will come through OK. Doubtless there is redundancy in the SA ed system now that official segregation is ended. Dr Asmal, however, is as mal (nuts) as they come, bristling with his own ethnic axe to grind, frantic me-too-ism with the new Xhosaphone oligarchy (note: in SA, the more things change, the more they stay the same), and the overweening hubris of a crank ideologue vested with nearly untrammmeled executive authority.* Other than that, he's a swell guy and a friend of all that is good, true, beautiful, and Libyan. *In DSM 5 (SA) this is listed as Verwoerdophrenia. However, the term is considered racialist and some SA psychiatrists would prefer the diagnostic label Asmalaria.
