Unemployment, Poverty and Social Unrest during COVID-19 the Focus of Dr Phyllis Naidoo Memorial Lecture

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UKZN and the Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre hosted the 2021 Dr Phyllis Naidoo Memorial Lecture in a webinar on Unemployment, Poverty and Social Unrest during COVID-19.

Facilitated by Mr Joe Mhlanga a Geopolitical Analyst and the founder of Behind the News Network, the keynote speaker was PhD candidate in Political Science at UKZN Mr Lukhona Mnguni.

In his welcome address, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research Professor Mosa Moshabela said the University was honoured to host the lecture during such a challenging time: ‘With so many societal issues, as academic leaders, we find ourselves asking questions like what should be our role, how should we respond, how should we position ourselves and who is responsible to solve this?’

Naidoo’s grandson Mr Buck Whaley thanked the hosts for honouring the memory of his late grandmother. He reminisced on his fondest memories of her and shared some of her scrapbooks left to him and his brother which informed their consciousness. Noting that Naidoo rejected all offers of national positions when the African National Congress came to power post 1994, Whaley explained that his grandmother always wanted to interact with people at grassroots level - a quality he deemed a legacy tool.

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying lockdowns, and job losses, the July unrest and government corruption, Mhlanga posed the question of whether politics is the best route to address South Africa’s problems. He urged citizens to stop normalising the abuse of politics, to change the way they look at political parties and to start looking for leaders other than politicians. He also called for a change in the political system in order for society to work better.

Mnguni highlighted Naidoo’s ability to use her pen, words and deeds to speak loudly for herself and others. He acknowledged the University’s recognition of Naidoo by naming one of the state-of-the-art facilities on the Edgewood campus after her. 

Mnguni examined Naidoo’s autobiographical work in order to avoid “diluting interpretations”. He reviewed the subthemes of the lecture as experiences that Naidoo lived through. She grew up in a poor household where her teacher father’s salary fed him and his wife’s 10 children, as well as numerous other family members. Later in life, Naidoo lost her job when she was banned by the South African government. In terms of social unrest, Mnguni noted that she experienced oppression, dehumanisation and brutality at the hands of the colonial and apartheid systems. She was also affected by a pandemic, having been born 10 years after the Spanish flu which claimed thousands of lives in the country.

Mnguni identified the following four persistent problems that confront South Africa:

•    The large number of youth that are unemployed and not in education or training; high levels of attrition in the secondary school phase; the poor architecture of post school education and training systems; and the prevalence of social ills such as drug and alcohol abuse and gender-based violence.

•    A lack of social cohesion due to the failure to reconcile the intersectionality between race, gender, sexuality and class in society, which has led to permanent conflict. This has exacerbated social exclusion ‘and, unfortunately, in our society the excluded are the majority, a continuity with the times of Naidoo.’

•    Irresponsible politics where politicians benefit from persistent divisions in society and factional wars within political parties.

•    Poor governance and statecraft due to a lack of competence and the lack of leaders with a compelling vision for society.

In concluding, Mnguni said: ‘the concept of justice should haunt us when we remember Dr Phyllis Naidoo. We may not belong to the same organisation, but the pursuit of a just society should make us belong to a collective solidarity front that is committed to the restoration of humanity.

‘Ultimate liberation from the bondage of unemployment, poverty and social unrest will not be achieved in our lifetime; however, we have a generational mission to make a significant breakthrough that builds on the gains accomplished by Naidoo’s generation.’

Portfolio Head for UKZN’s Special Collections, Dr Roshini Pather added that the University is proud to host Naidoo’s collection of books, letters, legal documents, photographs, recordings and memorabilia at the Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre and said that the Centre is in the process of digitising it.

Closing the lecture, Chairperson of the Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre, Miss Zandile Qono-Reddy thanked those that attended.

Words: Hlengiwe Khwela

Photographs: Supplied