Sakhela Buhlungu, the vice-chancellor of Fort Hare University, has said that the institution should no longer be called a “historically disadvantaged institution” (HDI).
He was speaking last week at the launch of a multi-million rand water-treatment works in Alice in the Eastern Cape.
According to News24 Buhlungu said: “We basically want to move away from that HDI kind of mode. We have said very clearly, as part of the renewal [project of the university], that we are no longer an HDI. We are a university, and that’s it. We are not an HDI anymore. We do not want that HDI tag because if [we identify ourselves] as HDI, we will forever be beggars. We need to stand up for ourselves and stop complaining.”
Fort Hare is one of South Africa’s oldest universities, having been founded in 1916. It has had a number of prominent alumni, including Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Can Themba, Kenneth Kaunda, and Robert Sobukwe.
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