The opening day of the Social Cohesion Conference hosted by the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in partnership with the Democratic Development Program and Peace Oasis International provided an opportunity to tackle societal issues.

The two-day conference began on Thursday, 27 September at the Onomo Hotel in Durban and concluded on Friday, 28 September 2018.

Providing welcome remarks, Professor Nokuthula Sibiya, the Executive Dean for the Faculty of Health Sciences at DUT said the vision of the conference is to build a socially cohesive society.

“This [conference] warrants us to deliberate on issues that we hardly talk about. So I wish you effective deliberations and a conference that will come up with strategies to pull together the fractured bones in our societies,” said Prof Sibiya.

Professor Ashwin Desai, a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg gave a presentation on “contextual understanding of social cohesion.”  In his presentation, Prof Desai said social cohesion is a complex subject but said it can be achieved by rectifying the policies which govern people.

“Every time we make policies, we don’t think about the intended consequences of those policies. The policies which inform our people are poor and create fractures in our societies,” said Prof Desai.

Among the issues tackled in the conference was how economics, power and politics affect social cohesion. This was done with delegates divided into three groups in robust dialogues.  During this session, civil organisations requested interventions from those in power to address some of the underlying issues in societies.

Suhr Hennings, Resident Representative of Konrad Adenauer Foundation South Africa- a political foundation whose basic principles includes freedom, justice and solidarity, spoke of social justice as a crucial part of social cohesion.

“Without social justice, there is no link among each other as people. Unfortunately, as people, we always compare with each other, one of the reasons why trust is diminishing in society. We should focus on possibilities and creating opportunities,” said Hennings.

Pictured: Delegates during a dialogue session on social cohesion.

Sandile Lukhozi