I would like to thank the Vice Chancellor of the Walter Sisulu University, Professor Marcus Balintulo for the invitation to speak at this graduation ceremony, and acknowledge his presence, as well as the presence of members of the University Council, members of Senate, graduants, members of staff and guests. It is indeed an honor to have been asked to address you on what must be one of the most important days of your lives. It is a particular honor for me given that this time last year, I sat where you sit now, waiting to graduate. As I listened to the graduation speech of Johnny Clegg, who was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate that night, I could not have imagined that I would be asked to play a similar role. I do not intend to speak for long, as I understand your eagerness to graduate; after all, one year ago, I too was wishing for the long speeches to be over so that I could graduate!

You, the members of this congregation, are graduating from the Faculty of Business, Management Sciences and Law. You will be expected to be leaders in these fields, having had access to University education in a context where access to University education is still, regrettably, still very much a privilege. Many of you will hopefully commence work in professions of your choice in the public or private sectors, or you may become attorneys, advocates or even judges. The journalism students among you may become practicing journalists, or public relations specialists, or even editors. You will enter these professions at a very exciting, but troubling time in South Africa’s history.

As you hopefully enter the professions of your choice, it will be important to bear in mind the vision and mission of the Faculty you are graduating from. The vision of the faculty is to ‘promote management sciences, economic development and justice both nationally and internationally’. Part of the faculty’s mission requires it to ‘redress socio-economic imbalances and play a key role in our country’s human resource development’.

The Faculty’s vision and mission direct you to carry out your studies with purpose; you are expected to study not simply for self-serving ends, but with the intention of promoting a more just society. Given that you now occupy relatively more privileged positions than many others in our country, it may be tempting to forget the need to be vision and mission-driven and pursue individual advancement. But the unfolding events in our country point to the dangers of ignoring the many ills in our society.

For the law and journalism graduates, your graduation coincides with a debate in the National Assembly today about a vote of no confidence proposed by Members of Parliament (MP’s) of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the Board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). You will probably have learned in your studies that the Board is meant to be the public’s voice in the broadcaster, and is further meant to consist of persons who are committed to fairness and freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed. They were meant to be selected through a process characterized by fairness, freedom of expression, transparency and openness. This did not happen, and the public broadcaster is now reaping the whirlwind of its Board’s illegitimacy. You mission should be to use your education to ensure that such problems do not happen again.

The management and law graduates will have taken note of a searing judgment against the Board by the Johannesburg High Court, which criticized the Board’s corporate governance practices. You will hopefully be equipped to ensure that transgressions of corporate governance do not happen in the institutions where you work. If you land up working in public institutions such as the SABC, you should remember that you are there to serve, and that you are accountable. You will protect the employees who speak out about malpractices, rather than driving them out for being troublesome. You will hopefully practice fair and just labor relations, because those are the values that your Faculty has encouraged you to hold.

The law graduates may be aware that the Judge in the abovementioned case, Judge Moroa Tsoka, was the same judge who declared pre-paid water meters unconstitutional in response to an application by residents of Phiri in Soweto. Both of Tsoka’s judgements are being appealed. You will probably have learned that South Africa is one of the few countries in the world where socio-economic rights are justiciable, and that is the first major case to be heard on the right to water. This case showed that justice does not belong to the rich only.

We know how difficult it was for the Phiri community to bring this case to court, as our Law Clinic started out as the instructing attorneys. The affidavits we collected contained heartbreaking stories. One applicant’s father died owing to the fact that she could not bathe his leg because she could not afford to buy water. Another applicant had a backyard room rented out to a woman who lost both her children in a fire, because water was not available on an emergency basis owing to the installation of a pre-paid meter. Society now looks to you, as law graduates, to tackle these problems. You will be required to make our constitutional real. You have excellent precedents to draw on, but many more to set.

For the business and management graduates, you will be entering a market that is struggling with high levels of poverty and unemployment, as well as the rising cost of food and fuel: problems that create particular challenges. Your challenge is to grow public and private institutions that will be able to address these challenges. You can set an example by adhering to the highest ethical standards of business practice.

If you become promoted to a senior position in the public service, remember not to be defensive when the service you manage is criticized, and the criticism is warranted. You should demonstrate what Noam Chomsky has suggested, namely a ‘…willingness to look the facts with an open mind, to put simple assertions to the test, and to pursue an argument to its conclusion’. Do not stay silent when you need to speak. Do not say that something is not a crisis when it is. Let the facts speak, even if they are uncomfortable.

If you come to manage an institution like Frere hospital, bear in mind that the doctor who speaks out about unwarranted bed cuts is not your enemy; he is speaking out in spite of the fact that he has nothing to gain and everything to lose professionally by sticking his neck out. The newspaper that reports on avoidable baby deaths is not to be despised; they are trying to help you deliver a better service, even if they may cause you short term embarrassment.

If you come to manage the Eastern Cape health department, get rid of the unconstitutional rule that prevents public officials from speaking to the media on matters of public interest. The journalism students who are graduating with you today, and who will hopefully populate the newsrooms of tomorrow, will remember you and thank you. You should have no difficulty in finding common cause with one another on these issues, as you are graduating from a Faculty that commits you to the same principles.

If you are a journalism student, know that you are entering a profession where you enjoy enormous power to hold those in positions of authority to account. But it is important to exercise this power with care, checking your facts, affording the right of reply and adhering to the best ethical standards. Your chosen profession is under pressure at the moment; some of this pressure journalists have brought on themselves through poor professional conduct, and in some other countries, journalists have allowed themselves to become propagandists for ruling elites, or mechanisms of social control. But many of the attempts to censor journalists are driven by fear of the power of your profession. The only currency you in your chosen profession have is your reputation for ethical reporting; guard this currency jealously.

To all of you, your graduation also coincides with a very sad moment in South African history, when xenophobic attacks have gripped the country. Fellow Africans, who considered it their revolutionary duty to house South African exiles during the liberation struggle are now being attacked and killed. As one blogger on Independent Online asked, ‘has South Africa lost its soul?’. You are very well placed to ensure that we can answer this question in the negative.

In spite of the many problems that beset our country, you should graduate with profound optimism. Your optimism should be drawn from the fact that you are now empowered to address these problems. Your debt to society for having afforded you the opportunity to study at this institution is that you must realize your potential as a change agent. Become a public intellectual. Speak out when you see injustice, and praise justice. It may cost you dearly at some stage in your career, but if you are driven by integrity, then people will begin to look at you with respect rather than fear. It may be tempting to stay silent when you see wrong things; some have advanced through sycophancy, through playing institutional games, rising to positions of authority and then imposing unpopular measures. Such leaders do not last. They are on the wrong side of history.

The professions which you are graduating into are vitally important for the health of our society. They should have a moral basis as well. The fact that the profession has a moral basis means that it can never merely be a job; in certain respects it is a calling. Critical intellectual engagement, too, has a moral basis: as Chomsky has argued ‘the responsibility of the writer as a moral agent is to try and bring the truth about matters of human significance to an audience that can do something about them. This is part of what it means to be a moral agent rather than a monster’. Don’t allow your intellectual engagement to stop once you leave this University; make it your public duty to be heard.   

The Eastern Cape has a rich tradition of activism, and has also given birth to some of the most important intellectuals in the country, who have changed our country and made it a much better place. You stand on strong shoulders.

I also hope that many of you will continue to study further, and wish you well in your future endeavors.

Dr. Jane Duncan
Executive Director
Freedom of Expression Institute