The DUT Directorate for Research and Postgraduate Support recently hosted a Public Lecture by Professor Ntongela Masilela where he delved into the political intellectual culture of South African intellectuals of the 1940s.

The Public Lecture was held at the DUT Hotel School, Ritson Campus. A South African intellectual and independent scholar living in retirement in Bangkok, Thailand, Prof Maisela spoke about the contribution of the late Richard Victor Selope Thema in the making of the new African modernity in South Africa.

Richard Victor Selope Thema (1886-1955) was a South African political activist and leader. He was a member of the South African Native National Congress deputation sent to Britain and Versailles in 1919 to intercede on behalf of black South Africans, many of whom had fought for Britain in the First World War.

Masilela touched on the role R.V. Selope Thema played in the undertaking of the realisation of African modernities through the theorising of the concepts of New African, New Africa and New South Africa, and how all the intellectuals were conscious on the realisation of how African moderities would not be possible without the exemplary nature of African American modernity. He (Prof Masilela) also criticised how many South Africans are afraid of change, especially in the political sphere, mentioning that most followers of the current leading party are people who are afraid of change and live under a false perception of the return of apartheid if the country is governed by people who are not black. He emphasised on the importance of being politically informed, especially the youth as they are the future leaders of the country.

– Phumeza Msongelwa and Siphephelo Sibiya

Pictured from left: Professor Thenjiwe Meyiwa, DUT Registrar; Professor Ntongela Masilela; keynote speaker at the Public Lecture, Professor Relebogile Moletsane, JL Dube Chair in Rural Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Mac Maharaj, ANC stalwart.