THE RHETORIC OF DECOLONISATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA:

MUSE, PRESCRIPTIONS AND PROGNOSIS

Gilbert Motsaathebe, PhD

University of Johannesburg,

South Africa

ABSTRACT

Institutions of high learning constitute key sites of knowledge and occupy a significant and

powerful position in society, since education is widely acknowledged as vital to development.

Yet universities in Africa continue to be censured for being out of step with the continent and

its developmental agendas because many of their curricula are closely modelled on those of the

former colonial masters and not the primordial African university that has championed African

civilisation in Mali, Timbuktu and Sankore, for instance. This article focuses on the unrelenting

conversation on Decolonisation by taking stock of the African university in its current form,

the way it has evolved, and its inherent potential. With specific reference to an African

university, the article provides a critique of the failure of Africa to change colonial structures

which have so far continued to serve as hegemonic devices for colonialism in Africa. This

article maintains that the mischance for an African university to disentangle itself from the

colonial forms of education is a clear sign that Africa’s struggle from colonialism is far from

over. This article further postulates that the African university has continued to be marred by

serious failure to respond adequately to challenges confronting the continent (as it was

highlighted during the #FeesMustFall campaign in South Africa and similar crusades

elsewhere). This happens in spite of the fanfare witnessed at the beginning of the millennium

regarding calls for Africanisation and de-Westernisation, which have since died a slow death.

The article deliberately refers to an African university in a singular form because the

universities in Africa are generally speaking all the same in form, content, and character.

Ultimately, the article attempts to move away from the popular rhetorical proclivity by

proposing an 8-point plan to reposition our universities in Africa.  

Keywords: African University, Decolonisation, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Hegemony,

Education, Colonialism, Pedagogy, Postcolonial Africa 

Introduction

More than thirty years ago, Janice Hale posed an important question: “Should we conceptualise

the African student as an eager student of American behaviours and values? Or should we

conceive of him as a shrewd survivor, who absorbs what is necessary while he resists complete

immersion in American culture” (Hale 1986: 9). This starting point is crucial because Africa is

invariably known to have been the first continent to introduce the concept of a university (see

UNESCO, Guinness Book of World Records, Medina of Fez, The General History of Africa).

At the beginning of the century, there was anticipation that the 21st century was bringing with

it some sort of an enigma to deal with Africa’s problem and the century was invariably hailed

as the African century as it was copiously articulated in the African Renaissance debates

(Motsaathebe 2011b: 01). However, those cheerful debates seem to have died a slow death.

This was a premature demise and therefore those debates need to be resituated as we continue

to grapple with Africa’s problem. At the centre of the problem is the fact that the current

educational institutions that Africa has are the exact replica of Western institutions, which for

the most part are counterproductive for Africa’s developmental agendas, creed, self-discovery,

and positionality. In that sense, there can be little doubt that Africa needs remodelled

universities that respond adequately to the continent’s myriad problems.  

This article takes stock of the current institution and attempt to highlight the pitfalls of not

acting fast enough to make the changes that need to be made to deal with what could be seen

as false education that is akin to what Fanon (1952) refers to as false liberation and more

specifically, what Hugo (2018: 4) refers to as “deliberate exclusion, ontological denial, and

erasure of local forms and ways of knowing.” This article problematizes and discusses four

critical issues, namely: a) The need for change and reclamation, b) Precolonial education in

Africa, Afrikology and the paradox of the African University today, c) Ubiquitous calls for

Decolonisation and the slow process of change, d) Transcending the abys and possibilities for

the future (Towards a decolonised education for postcolonial Africa).  

Premised on the primordial university concept that existed in Africa before colonialism, this

article exposes the current university model for what it is- a western hegemonic device that

serves to maintain the ideologies and worldviews of former colonial powers at the expense of

local cosmologies and ways of knowing. It illustrates what is clearly a slow process of

Decolonisation by highlighting the confident calls at the beginning of the century for

Africanisation which was invariably used interchangeably for related concepts such as

Decolonisation and de-westernisation as encapsulated in the African Renaissance debates

which have since died a slow death. This article argues that it will be the same factors that will

derail the current project if they are not addressed. Importantly, this article contends that the

#FeesMustFall protest that South Africa has seen would not have happened if the academe had

acted at the beginning of the millennium in enforcing those confident pronouncements of the

African Renaissance. Taking forward the argument by Heleta (2018: 49) that “the colonial and

apartheid knowledge systems and Eurocentrism have not been sufficiently questioned”.

Furthermore, the article submits that the African university has merely been following the

European script and as such proposes a practical radical restructuring in order to change the

status quo. Of course, these are deeply unsettling issues that nonetheless need to be confronted.  

The Need for Change and Reclamation

In 2002, I abandoned an international trip to Canada in order to listen to Ali Mazrui (the late

professor at large of Africana studies) who was scheduled to deliver a keynote during the

occasion of Africa’s best 100 books at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town. The Awards

presentation celebrated African writers who have published popular books from an African

perspective that have been read all over the world. I was interested in his ideas on the prospects

of the African Renaissance project. During intermission, I got an opportunity to engage him.

To his credit, Mazrui was upbeat about Africa’s prospects. He was particularly pleased with

the then embryonic African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which he said would place

Africa on an important trajectory for growth and development and hold African leaders to the

highest standard of leadership that would ultimately return Africa to its former glory. As a

result, he likened the occasion of Africa’s 100 best books of the 20th century to an exercise in

peer-review.

One of the things Mazrui argued for was what he called the domestication of an African

university, adding that African experience has been shaped by the confluence of factors. As

Osei (1991: 7) explains, domestication is ‘the process of making an imported resource more

relevant and appropriate for the African situation’. Other concepts that have been used to

express frustrations with the current state of Africa include de-Westernisation, Africanisation

and Indigenisation. Indeed, all these were highlighted as key constituents of the African

Renaissance debates at the beginning of the millennium. Since these concepts have been dealt

with elsewhere (Makgoba 1997, Motsaathebe 2011b), this article highlights a few specifics to

provide a comprehensive context for the issues that it raises.

Africanisation is generally seen to signal a (renewed) focus on Africa, on reclamation of what

was taken from Africa, and, as such, it forms part of post-colonialist, anti-racist discourse. It

comprises a focus on indigenous African knowledge and concerns simultaneously

‘legitimation’ and ‘protection from exploitation’ of this knowledge. With regard to the African

university that I allude to, the focus is on Decolonisation and Africanisation of institutions,

curricula, syllabi and criteria for excellence. In order to appreciate the need for Decolonisation

and Africanisation, one must note that during colonialism, the Western system of knowledge

was privileged over African knowledge. Often, African knowledge was reproduced as a

Western discovery to deny African claims to knowledge and civilisation (Makgoba 1997). On

the other hand, the term de-Westernisation denotes attempts to disentangle Africa from the

colonial legacy introduced by Western nations during colonialism. Hence, de-Westernisation

is often used interchangeably with localisation and Africanisation in the African context where

de-Westernisation becomes important because colonialism discredited African languages,

cultures, and ways of life, seeking to Westernise Africans by introducing their cultures and

languages into Africa. Both Africanisation and de-Westernisation are a necessary process for

the renaissance and the Decolonisation of Africa. Another related concept is Indigenisation

which may be seen as the resuscitation, reintroduction or rediscovery of the culture, knowledge,

languages, values, resources, and histories of indigenous people, all of which were displaced

during colonialism.

The most recent concept around which the current philosophical rhetoric oscillates, regarding

the above, is Decolonization, which essentially implies dismantling colonization in all its

forms. According to Heleta (2018: 47), “Decolonization of knowledge is crucial in order to

rewrite histories, reassert the dignity of the oppressed and refocus the knowledge production

and worldviews for the sake of the present and the future of the country and its people, as well

as the rest of the African continent.” Elementarily, every university has jumped in the

Decolonisation bandwagon, more particularly in South Africa following the #FeesMustFall

protests. The irony of Africa is that all African countries confidently proclaim to be

independent. Yet it is clear that Africa has failed dismally to disentangle herself from

colonialism and its multiple legacies (which continue to manifest in different forms including

education) in spite of her supposed independence from former colonial masters. This leaves us

with a situation akin to what Mbembe (2001: 27) describes as being “domesticated in the world

of the master.” The fundamental question is what happened to Africa after the political

liberation? In grappling with this question, it makes sense to ask ourselves whether the current

model of education—right from primary education to university level—resonates with Africa’s

cosmologies, philosophy, history, and developmental agendas. Of course one must

acknowledge certain efforts that are being made in various quarters at various institutions to

try to address this problem. I argue, however, that those attempts have not been decisive enough

and will not go very far in ensuring that there is a fundamental change across all institutions in

Africa. Due to the veracity of these important questions, it is fair to suggest that failure to deal

with them meaningfully would be tantamount to the ultimate betrayal to the African struggle

for liberation.  

One must also acknowledge the number of conferences and symposia aimed at highlighting

the plight of Africa in relation to its colonial education. These include, among others, the 1961

Addis Ababa conference, the Madagascar conference in 1962 and many others after that. There

were two other conferences that I was fortunate to attend, namely the South African

Association for Research and Development in Higher Education (SAARDHE) on the role of

an African university (June 2005 in Durban) and the 5th International Conference of the

University of Botswana on Mapping Africa in the English Speaking World (held in Gaborone,

Botswana on June 02-04, 2009). Speaker after speaker lamented Africa’s position in the world

and painted a flattering picture of how they were going to change the status quo. Some of us

warned then that the situation was a ticking time bomb if we did not act in any fundamental

way. Needless to say, these serial presenters went back to their respective universities,

reworked their papers for publications and focussed on another conference. Therefore, when

the #FeesMustFall tremor occurred, it premised on the same issues that we had neglected to

address. The question posed throughout this article is why are we not moving fast enough?

These are unsettling questions that we need to continue to ask. There is no doubt that while it

is important to talk about these issues at length, it is time to move forward. In trying to provide

a logical context for my agitation and address, at once, those pessimistic about Africa’s

developmental trajectory, it is important to look at education in Africa before colonialism.  

Precolonial education in Africa, Western hegemony and Afrikology

For its theoretical framework, this article makes use of insights derived from the notions of

Hegemony and Afrikology. Hegemony focuses on power relations and the way it is reproduced

through institutions such Universities while Afrikology provides epistemological justification

for African knowledge and its reclamation which is crucial for the Decolonisation of education

in postcolonial Africa (Motsaathebe 2010). That Africa is known to have been the first

continent to introduce the university is a fact that is no longer debatable (Medina of Fez). In

fact, it should be elementary to say that the arguments for the evolution of the learning Centres

that gave birth to the modern University could be traced to the history of the libraries in

Timbuktu and Alexandria and those in Europe before the Graeco-Roman period. Molefi Asanti

takes up these issues elsewhere in his corpus of work on Afrocentricity. That Africa’s normal

development was ruptured by slavery and colonialism is no longer debatable. As Kromah

(2002: 3) puts it: ‘The two experiences effectively stopped the progressive growth of the

technological society Africa had begun several hundred years earlier.’ As cited in Motsaathebe

(2011b) Kromah (2002: 02) support this argument by mentioning some of the contributions to

civilisation that are attributed to Africans: 

1) The Sciences: accomplishments included astronomy, the 365 1/4-day calendars, the

study of anatomy, embalming, chemistry, and mathematics (geometry and

trigonometry), and the production of high-grade steel and large-scale architectural

works.

2) Inventions and Discoveries: the Africans are credited for phonetic writing, paper and

ink, aspirin, tetracycline, pregnancy testing, front porches, and the house clock.

3) Social Structures: national government, universities, libraries, and belief in one God,

grand funerals and beliefs emphasizing the afterlife.

4) Social Customs: circumcision, dice shaving; belly dancing, and branding animals

with hot irons.

Kromah argues that Africa has never fully recovered from the economic, sociological and

psychological residue of colonialism and slavery. The African Renaissance was thus seen as a

moment of recovery from the colonial onslaught. According to Aristide (2006: 165) there can

be no African Renaissance without a psychological renaissance: ‘As an important first step to

an African Renaissance, psychological renaissance can raise among all of us, our level of self-

awareness and historical awareness […] to renew ourselves and overcome the legacies of

slavery and racism.’ The onslaught of colonialists succeeded in dismantling African history

and culture and went on an elaborate crusade to impose colonial culture together with its

educational institutions, which continued to serve as hegemonic devices long after the supposed

end of colonialism.

While the national liberation movements across Africa have succeeded in taking political

power, the colonial legacy has remained and it continues to be entrenched through public

institutions such as universities. Hegemony was popularised by Italian philosopher Antonio

Gramsci while imprisoned in Italy to denote the dominance of one group over the other through

subtle coercion imposed through several institutions and structures that serve as hegemonic

devices. In the Gramascian (1973) sense, these universities serve as hegemonic devices. This

is especially so because the educated elite that operates these institutions are part of the class

that continues to function as an agent of colonial institutions obfuscate the course of the

revolution by selling false promises that are out of sync with the intended aspiration of the

African struggle. According to Gramsci (1973), the hegemony of the dominant ideology (read

western ideology) must continue to be reproduced and the university is one institution that has

successfully achieved this considering the central role that it occupies in society. It is not rare

to find some amongst us pride ourselves of being the product of missionary education. As

Habte and Wagaw (2003: 679) find that, “the educated elite were beginning to know less about

and show little appreciation for African history, religions, ideas, clothes, cuisine, art, music and

life-styles generally”. Universities in Africa can best serve their communities if they strive to

function as embodiments rather than eroding forces of indigenous knowledge, history and

culture, Hegemony implies a consent, reluctantly or not, by people to be governed by

principles, rules, and laws usually imposed on them and which do not necessarily operate in

their best interests. 

Furthermore, as part of theoretical constructions that attempt to interrogate the current colonial

discourse with a view to accurately extract a true African story, realities, challenges, needs and

aspirations, some Africanists such as Nabudere (2006) propose what they refer to as

“Afrikology.” Afrikology is “the study of traditional and indigenous Afrika by Black Afrikans.

It involves the history, philosophy, art, law, medicine, engineering, science and technology of

ancient Afrika from an Afrikan perspective.” (Accessed 20 November 2009). Thus, Afrikology

may be understood as a study of Africa by Africans and from an African perspective. According

to Nabudere (2006: 20), “Afrikology must proceed from the proposition that it is a true

philosophy of knowledge and wisdom based on African cosmogonies because it is “Afri”- in

that it is inspired by the ideas originally produced from the cradle of humankind located in

Africa.” Indeed, history is replete with examples of falsification of accounts by people writing

about Africa in order to undermine Africans and their culture, which they labelled backward,

barbaric and uncivilised, while at the same time promoting foreign cultures.

As a result, much of the discourse about Africa and its people today remain out-of-sync with

the true history. The preceding resonates strongly with the expression: “until lions learn to tell

their own stories, their stories will continue to be told by the hunters.” Afrikology suggests that

African people themselves can best address such an injustice. This point also dovetails the idea

of lived experience as a form of theorisation. Theorising from a more realistic African

experience makes it possible for such theories to deal with the situation confronting Africa in

a more poignant way so that solutions to African problems could be found. The call for the

Decolonisation resonates strongly with assumptions of Afrikology. It is a fact that the

Decolonisation of the curricula is often relegated to the margins in many countries. In South

Africa, for example, around 2013 the government insisted on re-curriculation project but

neglected to put the Decolonisation at the centre of that project. As a result, the project was

characterised by the usual inclination to benchmark with the Western institutions that are

fallaciously equated with “excellence.” Such a move explains why curricula in many African

universities have remained largely unchanged except for certain cosmetic changes.

Towards a decolonised education for postcolonial Africa – transcending the abys 

In his address to the Biennial Meeting of the Association for the Development of Education in

Africa, Mbeki (1999) made the following statement:

If the next century is going to be characterised as a truly African century, the

century of durable peace and sustained development in Africa, then the success

of this project is dependent on the success of our education systems. For

nowhere in the world has sustained development been attained without a well-

functioning system of education, without universal and sound primary

education, without an effective higher education and research sector, without

equality of educational opportunity.

It not surprising that Mbeki highlights educational systems as a key aspect of Africa’s

development and the de-legitimization of the colonial legacy. It was very clear then that the

extent to which the African century becomes a success depends largely on Africa’s

commitment to assert her position in the world. In this drive, the need for proactive

organisations cannot be over-emphasised. Thus, all institutions in Africa particularly

educational institutions would have to be prepared to change the way in which they operate in

order to play a more focused role in seeking honest answers to the problems besetting Africa.

Museveni (2000: 164) warned that failure, by institutions of learning, to become more

proactively involved will not take Africa anywhere and will inevitably result in

“backwardness”, which he describes as “a society’s incapacity to master its environment and

harness it by utilising the positive aspects for that society’s betterment”. Therefore, Africa

needs participatory institutions that are collectively involved, not institutions that glide on the

side-line, playing the role of a critical spectator in the developmental process.

Today, the need to transform our education system is more urgent than before, especially after

the #FeesMustFall wakeup call. In their paper, Pillay and Kathard noted in reference to the

removal of the Rhodes statue that, “this effort was not only about the statue, the symbol of

colonial oppression, but it was also about higher education curricular and about how research

is positioned” (194). Indeed we need advance knowledge through theories and empirical efforts

rooted in the African thought and cosmology so that we can produce knowledge that is relevant

to Africa and most importantly graduates who can take their rightful place in the world of

knowledge as Africans and not as ambivalent extensions of European knowledge. We must,

therefore, continue to agitate towards a better educational system in Africa. We cannot expect

this to happen without taking decisive steps, lest we become, in the words of Douglass (1857:

437), like “men who want crops without ploughing up the ground; they want rain without

thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” It is

therefore important that we go beyond the talking stage to the implementation stage. As Fanon

(1952: 28) puts it, “what matters is not to know the world but to change it.” As part of the

agitation for a decolonised African University, I propose an 8-point plan backed up by some

of the ideas that have been articulated in different places at different times: 

1. African governments must set stringent requirements for educational intuitions

It is a complete disavowal of responsibility for the government not to provided direction on

what ought to be done in the next phase of Africa to take charge of her destiny as a continent

and to firmly set the continent on a path of recovery and sustained political and socio-

economic growth. For example, around 2013 the South African government compelled

Higher Educational Institutions to re-curriculate but strangely missed an opportunity to put

the Decolonisation at the centre of that re-curriculation project. Until African governments

realise the importance of having edicts for institutional reforms aimed at dismantling the

legacy of colonialism their aspirations for prosperous Africa will never be realised. As a

starting point, African governments must make a stringent educational policy informed by

Africa’s aspiration to reclaim its former glory and such policies must be boldly enforced. As

Habte and Wagaw (2003: 691), noted, “usually the constant rhetoric emphasising the need

for educational reform produced no more than cosmetic changes while the existing system

reproduced itself.” In my view, one of the many issues that continue to hamper significant

progress on the Decolonisation is the issue of embeddedness. This is especially so because

many of those who resist change are those trained in the Western/Eurocentric system and

continue to enjoy the privileges that they derive from these bureaucratic colonial systems at

the expense of the important raptures that need to happen. As a result, the work of those lonely

voices that advocate for a multiform, counter-narrative that put Africa at the centre makes a

very little impact that is continuously eroded by the system in which they operate.

It is therefore important that there is a corresponding acceleration of efforts on the part which

has a moral obligation “to force Africa to face up to itself in the world,” to borrow Mbembe’s

phrasing (2001: 14). Governments need to relook at their approach, which has, until recently

focused more on political astuteness and very little on education and its current

epistemological framework that has completely obfuscated the precolonial mode of education

that resonated with the African contexts. Although some may argue that, this kind of approach

will impede academic freedom. Nonetheless, it is clear that radical intervention is needed if

we hope to transcend the abys and ensure that our educational systems are relevant, rooted in

Africa and well-positioned to respond to African problems. As Foucault (1985: 252) reminds

us, “You can't find the solution of a problem in the solution of another problem raised at

another moment by other people.”  

2 A return to the African Renaissance project

As mentioned above, the African Renaissance seems to have come and gone. Linked to the

Mbekian era, the former South African President sought to premise this particular renaissance

on Africa’s forgotten history of innovation as illustrated by Mbeki’s (1998) speech to the

United Nations in which he reminded the word body of the Latin saying: Ex Africa semper

aliquid novi!” [Something new always comes out of Africa] (See The African Renaissance,

South Africa, And The World Speech, 1998). The concept of the renaissance of Africa was

first highlighted by Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop in 1948 and later intimated by

Kwame Nkurumah and Nelson Mandela (Asante 2006; Bongmba 2004). This was, in turn,

taken up by Thabo Mbeki, who made a passionate plea for the African Renaissance when he

delivered what became known as ‘The African Renaissance statement’ in 1998. Whereas

Asante (2006) sees the African Renaissance as a call for ‘African unity and resurgence’,

Nabudere (2006: 13) sees it as ‘a call for continued African resistance to Western domination

and exploitation’. In Africa, there is such a great deal to be resuscitated due to the historical

circumstances relating to colonialism, imperialism, apartheid and other factors that have

covertly or overtly eroded the African way of life over a prolonged period of time. For this

reason, the renaissance in Africa cannot, in any way, be equated to the one that took place in

Europe. The challenge is therefore enormous but certainly not insurmountable.  

What is certain, however, is that the African Renaissance demands that Africans themselves

take their future into their own hands. It is about Africans asserting their true identity and pride,

as explained by Shope (1999: 7): “The renaissance of our Africanness is not about

rediscovering, but about reiterating who we are and what we as Africans are all about.” It is,

of course, true that “no future and no renaissance can be envisaged with peoples who are

psychologically defeated and have lost their confidence in themselves and in their ability to

change their own situation according to their own needs and aspirations” (Guéye, 1999: 244-

45).

Thus, the renaissance of Africa is essentially a project in the search of identity, which had been

displaced by the onslaught of foreign culture, languages, and other hegemonic devices

deliberately designed to subjugate Africans and socialise them in the culture, language, and

customs of the colonial masters. Now that Africans have regained their (false) independence,

with the 21st century being widely hailed as the African century by many African intellectuals

and politicians, it is imperative, in the context the above line of thinking that Africans go all

out to disentangle themselves from dependency on colonial masters. Certainly, if the African

renaissance is about Africans reclaiming their own identity, culture, and ways of knowing, then

its success is largely dependent on Africans being able to assert themselves and communicate

with each other in their own languages. Yet, Africa is a huge multi-lingual continent and the

possibility of utilizing any of the African languages emblematic to a particular language group

is another issue.

It is an open secret that colonialism exploited Africa and its people and enriched the colonisers

by monopolising power and economic production. In many countries, such as South Africa,

Zimbabwe, Kenya and so forth, colonisers grabbed the land, which had for centuries been the

key asset for Africans (Mazrui, 1999). The discovery of minerals and other means of

production bolstered colonial control and supremacy, and exacerbated the exploitation of

Africans who worked as cheap labourers and slaves in some instance. The colonisers also

introduced their culture and languages and ruthlessly uprooted and diluted indigenous culture

which they saw as barbaric, backward and uncivilised. The history of Africa was falsified and

Africans were projected as insignificant, dull and lazy creatures, which were then

disempowered, debased and exploited in all ways possible (Motsaathebe 2011a). Within that

formulation, Africa was seen as ‘the dark continent’ or a jungle where anybody except Africans

can come and do as they please. At the end of colonialism, Africans had to deal with the

unsurpassed levels of poverty, underdevelopment which derailed the normal stability of the

African communities. Unfortunately, when the colonialists left after looting the continent, they

left behind their legacies, notably, their languages, the systems of government, laws and other

public institutions such as Universities, which continue to serve as their hegemonic apparatus.

Today, as mentioned all African countries have gained what they perceive to be independence

from their former colonial masters. This article posits that such independence is not true

independence as the colonial structures firmly remained in place and continue to orchestrate

the historical circumstances that have covertly and overtly eroded the African way of life over

a prolonged period. The essential issue at stake in the African Renaissance, argues Diop (1999:

5), is that of devising ways and means to revert this age-old regressive trend and to regain the

historical initiative as a people, in order to secure Africa’s reconstruction and development

based on the vital needs and legitimate hopes of the majority of Africa. However, Prah (1999:

60) cautions that “Africa’s development and renaissance cannot be premised on unbridled

cultural borrowings from outside.” In substantiating this point, Prah (1999) adds that

development in a sustained and meaningful way can only be achieved on the basis of Africa’s

own cultural usages in consonance with history and cultures of the people of Africa. 

The question that follows is: How can this be achieved? In responding to this question Odora

Hoppers, Moja and Mda (1999: 236), suggest the following priorities which they say should

underpin the role of higher education in devising the appropriate curricula based on African

knowledge systems:

• To increase a body of African knowledge systems (both contemporary and

indigenous) and a directory of experts in African indigenous knowledge system;

• To increase core courses on the African Renaissance perspectives in all faculties,

which should lead to the development of guidelines towards an African-centred

teaching methodology;

• To establish linkages between institutions, government structures, and the

community in order to enable government structures to make a meaningful

contribution to policy development;

• To establish a think-tank and coordinate proactive and remedial projects in the

communities in zones of conflict; and

• To develop mentorship programmes within the framework of the philosophy of

ubuntu and create programmes for its application in practice.

The preceding points are clearly very important as they affirm the conviction that the African

Renaissance can never be realised until our universities are truly Africanised by incorporating

the African world-view. Habte and Wagaw (2003: 693) echo the same sentiments and further

suggest that “institutions of higher learning must consider themselves as the cultural centres

of the communities in which they exist and the guardians and supporters of artistic, literary

and musical heritage”. This is important since Africa is in a renewal phase as already

evidenced by the progress that has been made by various African countries and institutions

in furthering the continent’s ambitious plan to restore Africa to its former glory and locate its

proper place in the world.

3. Adapting university education to the cultural milieu of its local community

Matos (2000) is of the opinion that, in order for the university to discharge its functions

adequately, it must be firmly rooted in the cultural and intellectual environment of the country

where it is located. He posits that “the agents of education and research enterprise, the

academic staff, must continuously seek to understand the local environment and culture,

transmit this to their students, and stimulate and guide them in the search for understanding

of reality” (Matos, 2000: 18). In terms of drawing aspirations from our immediate

communities, it is important that the curricula should be relevant, as indicated before so that

what is taught at these institutions should be informed by developments in these communities.  

Therefore, we must incorporate within the curricula what matters to the local communities.

For instance, we can base research and other scholarly endeavours on these communities with

a clear aim of accelerating growth and lessen dependency on foreign institutions or countries.

Matos (2000: 16) raises the issue of relevance and quality in this way: “Trapped in their

internal problems and exhausted by their survival strategies, universities show little capacity

to adopt to change and to respond to the demands posed by society and by economic trends.”

For some scholars like Cloete (1997:4), relevance includes democratisation of opportunities

to participate, links to the world of work, lifelong learning, contributing to the solution of

pressing social problems such as environment, democracy, and human rights. This is exactly

what Ugandan president, Museveni (2000: 114) referred to when he said in addressing

students and staff at Makerere University in Kampala: “Ideas must spring from your own

social reality. You must analyse your own society and extrapolate relevant theories on which

you can base your judgement and actions. Mere imitations will not take Africa anywhere.”

Makgoba (1996) has echoed the same sentiments:

We need a higher education system that is anchored and understands its

identity, one that derives its intellectual inspirations from the challenge

we as (South) African society face – poverty, racism, HIV/Aids, housing,

infrastructure.

Indeed, an African institution must be on centre stage for such activities so as to justify its

existence. We must play our role, and keep on reviewing it and redefining it as the situation

on the ground changes. We must aim to be part of the community so that what we teach is

not by any way overtaken by developments in the community that surround us. As Museveni

(2000: 162) exhorts: “Often in Africa, instead of young people being at the forefront of the

struggle for social justice, they are at the forefront of the struggle for privileges. You must

make it your mission to discover the path we should take in order to get out of the current

situation.” It is important, therefore, that the African university should serve as the nucleus

of knowledge, research, innovation, and moral fibre within which Africa’s developmental

strategies must be grounded.

4. Vigorous incorporation of indigenous knowledge

The era of renewed vigour, recognition and appreciation for the value and application of

indigenous knowledge and history should begin within the context of university education.

Indigenous knowledge is the key aspect of culture since it is the cultural system that informs

the creation of knowledge in any given community. It is for this reason that Mugo (1999: 228)

contends that education “should have a cultural component, which specifically draws upon

African indigenous knowledge and culture”. It is a fact of historical circumstances that IK has

largely been neglected and marginalised with the result that in some quarters it has come to be

regarded as being backward. Commenting on this marginalisation and condemnation of IK by

the very people who are supposed to uphold it, Museveni (2000: 47), argues: “[p]eople are

always trying to denounce themselves and their heritage and become somebody else”. It is, of

course, important that such views must be discouraged at all cost. Indeed, being ‘indigenous’

in the African context has been the subject of much debate in some quarters. This debate has

triggered varied interpretations. Goduka (2005) explains that the very concept ‘indigenous’ is

derived from the Latin root indu or endo, which is related to the Greek word endina, meaning

entrails’. She elucidates: “Indigenous, therefore, means a shared sense of being so completely

identified with people, land, place, and nature that one reflects their very entrails, their insides,

their souls” (Goduka, 2005: 03).  

Linked to this interpretation is the position that an African university must consciously pursue

a student profile that appreciates, understands and indeed identifies with indigenous

knowledge, culture and all of its facets, not the type that shuns and dismisses anything

indigenous as being uncivilised or backward. From this vantage, an African university will be

failing in its mandate if it produces students who have little or no knowledge at all of African

practices and ways of knowing. Habte and Wagaw (2003: 679) found that through the Western

education, “the educated elite were beginning to know less about and show little appreciation

for African history, religions, ideas, clothes, cuisine, art, music and life-styles generally”.

Universities in Africa can best serve their communities if they strive to function as

embodiments rather than eroding forces of indigenous knowledge, history and culture, as Habte

and Wagaw (2003: 679) correctly observed. It must be the role of an African university to find

indigenous knowledge and put it to proper use so that both the Western and the African

knowledge systems and practices can be fully harnessed. Hence Western knowledge and

indigenous knowledge must rather be complementary and not antagonistic to each other. 

During colonialism, there was an asymmetrical way in which knowledge was imparted and that

was done with impunity by the colonisers. The Western system of knowledge was privileged

over African knowledge. Often, African knowledge was reproduced as a Western discovery to

deny African claims to knowledge and civilisation (Makgoba 1997: 199). However, a

reclamation of Africa’s indigenous knowledge system does not mean an erosion of the Western

knowledge system, and thus, as Makgoba puts it, ‘Africanisation is not about expelling

Europeans and their cultures, but about affirming African culture and their identity’ (ibid.). 

 

The prolonged political conflict and civil wars in various African states have forced many

Africans to leave their homes and seek refuge in other countries. This has resulted in

intolerance among people who regard those seeking refuge in other countries as intruders. It

has also caused a new form of conflict among Africans, which has manifested itself in, among

others, the culture of xenophobia. Universities need to respond actively to this challenge by

attempting to foster the culture of humanity, humility, understanding, and tolerance and

teaching those that walk through the gates of these institutions to be charitable to others. For

instance, in the war-torn communities, peace studies can easily become the core part of the

curriculum, teaching people the importance of peaceful co-existence. Again the ideals that

underpin the philosophy of ubuntu can play a pivotal role in this regard, as envisaged by

Raselekoane (2000: 63), who says that “ubuntu grooms people to be tolerant, patient and kind

to others”. As we shall see, the African culture is unique and many lessons can be drawn to

ensure a return to the stability of the African continent.  

5. An African university as the locus for “What is working” to use Museveni’s

phrase.

In the words of Yuweri Museveni, the African university must become “the centre for what

is working and what is not working”. In an address to students and staff at the University of

Dar-es-Salaam in 1986, he emphasised that their role should be to discover the path to be

taken to get Africa out of the current situation. His view is that a university should be the

place where people learn and indulge in issues to get a broader understanding of these issues

so that the skills acquired from these institutions should be used effectively. Thus, our role

should be to discover what is wrong in Africa. Museveni (2000: 163) decried those

professionals who were wasting their skills on what is not working:

We have many experts, engineers, doctors, and other professionals who

are mere tools. They can be used to make weapons to kill people, or they

can be used to manufacture chemicals for the good of society. Therefore,

what is most crucial is the politics that guide whatever activity we

undertake. Expertise must be guided by politics.

Museveni’s viewpoint, as expressed, above is that any activity must be informed by a

thorough understanding of the confluence of factors prevailing in a given polity so that no

one becomes an enemy agent in disguise due to his own ignorance. The African university

must, therefore, serve as an incubator for innovation, new inquiry and new ideas especially

those that resonate with the African context, policies and practice.

6. The economic development of the continent

Among the most pressing issues that confront Africa is the need to raise living standards and

develop the economy to be able to deal with the scourge of poverty and unemployment. Marais

(1988: 107), for instance, has concluded: “almost everywhere in Africa the economic situation

is weak, and offers little hope of eliminating the fundamental problem – poverty”. According

to Mugo (1999: 227), developmental and economic paradigms that have failed to eradicate the

ailments of poverty, underdevelopment, hunger, homelessness, street children, and the rest of

Africa’s woes, demonstrate that our educational system has not been sufficiently problem-

posing and problem-solving in orientation.

Habte and Wagaw (2003: 699) agree and suggest that research and training must be based upon

economic and social realities in such a way that education will be better able to respond to

development requirements. In light of these views, the subjects taught at institutions of higher

learning ought to focus on the real issues on the ground. Outreach programmes cannot be

overlooked in this regard, in terms of conscientising the community about what can work and

what cannot work as evidenced by community-driven research conducted by these institutions.

The African university must truly become a beckon of hope against the bleak environment and

offer sustainable training, assistance, support, and advice on problems affecting the local

community. For this reason, the African university must draw up a clear vision, devise ways,

devote time and channel all of its resources in the pursuit to help develop the economy to the

fullest. Assistance in the form of donations from developed nations has not been sufficient and

it is certainly not the answer since the best it does is to continue to increase dependency on

hand-outs, which will never be able to ignite economic development that is so fundamental to

Africa’s rediscovery.

Africa is rich in minerals and other natural resources but Africa is still unable to tap on these

in any meaningful way to enrich the continent and lessen dependency on former colonial

masters. Education must be at the centre stage to ensure that the work that is being done at

universities assist Africa in returning to the centre and ensuring that it has the know-how to use

the resources meaningfully for its own survival and prosperity.  

7. African professionals in the Diaspora

It is indeed true that “Diasporan African communities have many of the resources and skills

that Africa badly lacks” (Mugo, 1999: 229). This view supports Cloete’s (1997: 3) finding that

almost 30% of Africa’s high-skilled person power has moved abroad – mainly to Europe. Many

African intellectuals, including Mbeki (cited earlier), believe that it is an opportune time for

Africans in the African Diaspora to come home. Clearly irritated by these distant participants,

Mbeki (1998: 299), in speaking of his vision of an ideal Africa, states that:

I dream of the day when the African mathematicians and computer

specialists in Washington and New York, the African physicists, engineers,

doctors, business managers, and economists, will return from London and

Manchester and Paris and Brussels to add to the African pool of brainpower;

to inquire into and find solutions to Africa’s problems and challenges; to

open the African door to the worlds of knowledge; to elevate Africa’s place

within the universe of research, the formation of new knowledge education

and information.

To retain the best one has to create conditions that are favourable. African universities must,

therefore, aim at recruiting those African academics in the Diaspora to come home and make

their contributions. Those who still care need to come and help rebuild Africa, a continent that

was once so prosperous that explorers had to leave their countries in the scramble for Africa’s

riches. The role of an African university and its activities, it does seem, cannot be deemed

passable if it fails to attract these professionals.

In addition, the successful recruitment and retention of these professionals will, in part, address

some of the concerns that have been raised by critics such as Thompson (1981), who found the

way in which most African educational institutions recruited problematic. Thompson (1981)

found that most institutions tend to recruit their former students who have not necessarily

acquired commendable experience outside these institutions whereby the only thing they know

best is what they learned at these institutions. Yet they are tasked with preparing students for

employment in the increasingly demanding and more complex society. He argued that this

constitutes a “closed cycle more suited to the perpetuation of existing practice than to changing

it” (Thompson, 1981: 167). He likened this to a situation where someone teaches about

manufacturing without having seen a factory.

8. Development of African Languages and African Logic

Prah (1999: 60) suggests, “African languages need to be rehabilitated and developed to carry

science and technology in their most advanced forms”. Serote (1999) supports this call,

adding that Africa is the only continent where knowledge is imparted through languages that

are not indigenous. In echoing this view, Habte and Wagaw (2003: 696) add that these

(foreign) languages “are alien in that they are not rooted in African soil and do not draw their

continued vitality from the material and cultural essence of Africans”. Clearly, the issue of

languages is an important one. Often many people speak of science and technology as if these

are strange subjects to Africa. However, science and technology were alive and well long

before the encroachment of European explorers, as pointed out by Van Sertima (1999) and

Kgaphola and Magau (1999). The latter put it this way: “Long before Europeans set foot on

the continent, Africans had achieved technological and scientific sophistication in such varied

fields as astronomy, metallurgy, agricultural science and medicine” (Kgaphola and Magau,

1999: 345). Kromah has also highlighted some of Africa’s contribution to the area of science

and technology, elsewhere. Due to the profound impact of technology and science on human

lives, it is important therefore that while languages and other issues are still being revisited,

the means and ways of harnessing the new technology should be looked into, in the same way

as countries such as Japan have done. Thus, we must aim to produce a highly-skilled

population that is able to exploit the opportunities presented by the new technology in relation

to the problems confronting Africa. Producing highly skilled graduates is useful in ensuring

that African graduates are competitive and do not stay home jobless after spending time and

money at universities, thereby adding to the unemployment statistics. A high rate of

employability will ensure that the individuals who have completed their training at higher

education institutions become part of the solution and not part of the problem. In that regard,

we need to look at the possibilities of introducing courses which are directly related to the

daily struggles of the majority of the people on the ground and go further to make these

courses more accessible to the community. We must further encourage the application of new

skills by initiating relevant projects in which the acquired knowledge can be utilised in the

university’s immediate environment. 

Conclusion

In this article, I have redirected attention to the decolonisation project as it currently unfolds

and drew attention to the primordial universities that existed in Africa as a good starting point

for premising the important work that needs to be done in decolonising higher education in

Africa. I acknowledged the importance of the constant debates that continue to map Africa’s

position in the world and assert Africa’s forgotten history, astuteness, and potential.

Importantly, I argued that it is time to radically enforce ideas that have been debated over the

years about what an African university out to be. In my agitation, I have suggested an 8-point

plan which includes, among others, government enforcing a Decolonisation project and a

return to work on the African Renaissance project which I suggest was abandoned

prematurely. It is posited in this article that eventually a remodelled African university must:

• Salvage and vigorously integrate indigenous knowledge in the curricula.

• Serve as custodian and embodiment of African culture and heritage.

• Draw inspiration from problems confronting Africa and provide an impetus for the African

Renaissance.

• Respond directly to the needs of their local communities, for instance, by providing

specialised knowledge geared towards addressing problems prevalent in these

communities.

• Produce graduates who can claim their rightful place in the world of knowledge as

Africans, not as ambivalent citizens of the world or extensions of European knowledge

and hegemony.  

• Uphold African pride, thoughts, and intellectual rigor through activism, teaching,

research, scholarship that takes into cognisance local cosmologies and Africa’s

contribution to humanity in terms of the art, technology, and other ways of knowing. 

• Support and promote institutions and projects whose aspirations it is to develop Africa

such as the African Union, African Renaissance, and other Indigenisation projects.  

• Develop alternative frameworks for research and teaching as well as new theoretical

paradigms that take into account the specific experiences of societies in Africa 

• Advance knowledge through theories and empirical efforts rooted in African thought

and cosmology. 

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