DEATH OF A PROFESSOR
ISMAIL LAGARDIEN: Society must take responsibility for professor Mayosi’s death
We gave birth to, and provide shelter for, the callousness and cruelty, the lack of compunction and the theatrics of populist uprisings
Immediately after the death of someone we are wont to believe that "now is not the time for finger-pointing". I wish to disagree … the series of events that led to the death of professor Bongani Mayosi rests on all our shoulders. As a society we have to take responsibility for his death. We gave birth to, and provide shelter for, the callousness and cruelty, the lack of compunction and the theatrics of populist uprisings. We also shield and embolden those who stand in the way of social change and transformation. These are the untouchables. I will not discuss them. There have been reports that the attacks on Mayosi’s integrity were a major factor in his death. There is a lot of truth in that. There is also truth in the abandonment of black academics at institutions of higher learning. In a disturbing (beautifully written) memorial to Mayosi published by Litnet, Marlene van Niekerk wrote: "All you licking, fawning bastards who saw pure sunlight shining from the rad-est Fallist ars*s, ...
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