We Need Khans

Letter to the Editor, Mail & Guardian, November 24 to November 30 2006,
http://www.mg.co.za/articledirect.aspx?area=mg_flat&articleid=10182

We need Khans In the shackdwellers’ movement, we do not have the money to train as academics or send our children to train as academics. Therefore, we rely on others to bring back the fruits of their knowledge to the poor.

University of KwaZulu-Natal lecturer Fazel Khan is one of few academics who brings his learning to the people. For UKZN to bring him before a disciplinary committee is unacceptable.

The universities must work to build more Khans. If they try to destroy them, they, as institutions, will just be about individuals getting good jobs for themselves — they will not be about the society any more.

If we do not stand against this action, UKZN as a social project will cease to exist, and the fruits of academic learning will be lost to the poor.

There is no point in sending students to university if they are banned from coming back to their communities and working with the poor — as Khan has done.
— S’bu Zikode, president, Abahlali baseMjondolo