There is a brewing issue concerning the alleged discrimination against Black South African academics, as well as the suppression of decolonisation and indigenous knowledge development.
While this is not an entirely new issue, the Minister of Higher Education and Training announced in the 2016/17 budget speech that a ministerial task team would be established to “look into and propose solutions to the obstacles to the production of South African Black academics.” This appears to be the most noticeable attempt to address the challenges facing Black South African professionals in academia.
Indeed, the Ministerial Task Team on the Recruitment, Retention and Progression of Black South African Academics delivered its report in 2019 and made several recommendations. However, it remains unclear whether any of them have been implemented, particularly considering the growing furore about the marginalisation and systemic discrimination against Black South African academics. A Parliamentary Committee recently revealed that the Central University of Technology (CUT) seemingly favours foreigners over South African scholars. Last month, the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education also expressed concern about the University of the Free State employing 141 foreign academics and 26 foreign support personnel.
This ongoing debacle has led to accusations of intentional disadvantage and non-compliance with legal procedures, as CUT allegedly failed to inform the Department of Higher Education about the appointment of a foreign national. The university’s actions have been criticised for disregarding the professional capabilities of qualified South Africans. In early 2024, the African Transformation Movement raised questions about the practice of “excluding Black local academics.” In their book Academic Xenophobia: African Scholars in South African Universities, Precious Simba, Cyrill Walters, and Jonathan Jansen interpret these concerns as evidence of “anti-African sentiment.”
Nevertheless, CUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Pamela Dube defended the foreign national’s appointment, citing “internationalisation efforts” and a 10% cap on foreign hires, but was challenged on whether the Employment Equity Plan unfairly favours foreign nationals. At the University of Cape Town, it is claimed that a dedicated fund exists to support the studies of international students. This raises an important concern: Is this initiative effectively creating a pathway for the employment and advancement of foreign nationals, potentially positioning them to lead South African university departments at the expense of local talent?
Neoliberal violence in South Africa’s higher education sector
Neoliberal violence in South Africa’s higher education sector is evident in the imposition of market-driven policies that emphasise institutional ‘independence’ while undermining efforts to address colonial and apartheid legacies. These neoliberal policies prioritise global competitiveness and financial sustainability, sidelining transformative measures meant to uplift historically marginalised Black South Africans. The focus on self-sufficiency and external funding disconnects universities from the country’s socio-political realities, hindering the redress of deeply rooted racial inequalities.
Adopting Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ concept of the ‘abyssal line,’ this neoliberal framework entrenches the systemic marginalisation of Black South African academics by rendering their knowledge systems, cultures, and professional realities invisible or subhuman. Like other post-apartheid institutions, higher education deepens this divide by excluding Black professionals from academic and leadership spaces, despite their qualifications.
Neoliberal violence also stifles critical debates about Black people's experiences, concerns, and value systems by framing such discourse within narrow, market-driven perspectives. When concerns arise about the preferential treatment of foreign academics overqualified Black South Africans, they are often dismissed as ‘xenophobia.’ Keyan G Tomaselli argues, “Academic xenophobia has no place in a globalised world.” However, this framing distracts from the core issue: the persistent systemic inequality disadvantaging Black South Africans.
Calls for state intervention are often labelled “barbaric” or backward, dismissing legitimate efforts to correct historical wrongs. This narrative undermines critical conversations and silences demands for transformative action. Under neoliberal frameworks, global norms and market priorities override the urgent need to dismantle structural inequities, reinforcing the systemic marginalisation of Black South African academics.
The exclusion of black local academics
Some reject the notion that South African professionals are being marginalised, arguing instead that “blaming foreign academics, especially African ones, for the absence of local ones is wrong.” This view suggests that South Africa’s post-apartheid nation-building process has often relied on asserting a narrow national identity by “othering” non-South African Africans. As a result, foreign African scholars have increasingly found themselves excluded from academic spaces, despite universities’ rhetorical commitment to “African identity.”
As Precious Simba and others note, this nativist turn contradicts institutional missions and undermines the ideal of a shared African academic community. The preference for a nationally bounded, racially acceptable “better Black” has fostered Black-on-Black xenophobia and limited academic mobility. In contrast, models like Singapore’s inclusive hiring demonstrate that global excellence requires openness. For South African universities to truly thrive, they must reject nativism, embrace diverse African voices, and confront the “exclusionary anger” weakening academia.
UCT’s Evance Kalula acknowledges that a university where its own nationals are a minority “has a problem.” Therefore, the argument that Black South Africans are “still ill-prepared for globalisation” is insufficient. Sakhela Buhlungu advocates for diversifying international hires by including African, Indian, and white scholars to combat xenophobia and increase South Africans’ global professional awareness.
How academia resembles a drug gang
In addition to these challenges, black academics must navigate an inherently hostile, exploitative academic system. In How Academia Resembles a Drug Gang, Alexandre Afonso from King’s College London compares academia to a drug syndicate: a growing number of hopeful outsiders are kept in precarious positions, hoping for future stability and prestige. These roles, low-paying and temporary, are disproportionately occupied by Black South Africans.
The academic labour market in South Africa has created a dual structure: a small group of insiders enjoys permanent, well-paying roles, while the majority remain stuck on the margins. Despite increasing numbers of PhD graduates, permanent academic posts have not kept pace, leaving many overqualified individuals, especially Black South Africans, trapped in professional limbo.
This global phenomenon is visible in the US, UK, and Germany, where adjunct and part-time faculty now dominate university staffing. In South Africa, this reliance on a precarious, low-paid workforce replicates these patterns while deepening racial inequality and sustaining the systemic marginalisation of Black South African academics.
The unsettling faculty and institutional rot
In 2017, 42.1% of doctoral graduates from South African universities were international students. At 21 of the 23 doctorate-producing universities, at least 31% of graduates were non-citizens. The University of KwaZulu-Natal awarded 48% of its doctorates to international candidates, and institutions such as Fort Hare, Unisa, and CPUT produced more foreign than local doctoral graduates.
While internationalisation adds global perspectives, this growing reliance may stall local talent development. The 2019 Ministerial Task Team Report highlighted that only 36% of academic staff were Black African, despite making up 80% of the population. Women, especially Black women, remain severely underrepresented and often occupy junior roles. Institutional cultures and informal networks further isolate and devalue Black academics.
Wiseman Magasela’s article The Invisible Professionals explores how highly educated Black South Africans are rendered invisible in institutions structured to exclude them. They often face racism, sexism, poor mentoring, and unequal access to research opportunities and performance reviews. This drives many away and reproduces the status quo.
Toward genuine transformation
The Ministerial Task Team proposed various strategies to reverse this systemic marginalisation: funding postgraduate students, improving success rates, expanding African doctoral graduates, setting equity targets, supporting junior academics, and reforming performance models. It urged greater collaboration between the Department of Higher Education and the Department of Employment and Labour to enforce transformation mandates.
Yet these recommendations remain largely unfulfilled. Without firm state oversight, South African universities risk functioning outside national transformation priorities, while continuing to perpetuate historical inequalities under the guise of international excellence.
Reclaiming academic sovereignty
The systemic marginalisation of Black South African academics reflects a broader dysfunction in public institutions. At many universities, foreign academics dominate research networks and enjoy favourable conditions, often at the expense of local talent. The narrative that foreigners are more capable persists, while qualified South Africans, especially women, are overlooked and underpaid.
This is not just a failure of policy but a failure of vision. The imported liberal curriculum has failed to equip students with critical, context-sensitive knowledge. Tokenism and complicity, especially among local scholars placed on transformation committees, have enabled the erosion of transformation’s goals.
True transformation demands more than symbolic representation. It requires dismantling the institutional architecture that undermines Black South African scholars’ dignity, capacity, and leadership. Until their voices are empowered, not as tokens but as core stakeholders, South African academia will remain disconnected from its people and its purpose.
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