An Indian-origin Professor teaching at South Africa’s University of Witwatersrand has landed in a controversy after her remarks against South Africans were deemed racist. Prof Srila Roy, head of sociology at the University of Witwatersrand, in a post on X platform, called them as having “little ambition, complacent, and poor ethic.”
These comments have led to a furore within the academic community though she apologised.
Following the controversy, Tebogo Letsie, the Member of Parliament of South Africa, who is also the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, sought “ appropriate and decisive action” against Professor Srila Roy.
In her now deleted X post (Twitter), Professor Roy had written: “South Africans have little ambition, are complacent and have poor work ethic (take that for your xenophobia that us foreigners are meant to suffer in silence, as we nurture successive generations at the university).”
Professor Roy had reportedly made these controversial remarks over the report issued by South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) which stated that approximately 7.7% of the academic workforce are international academics. The report led to xenophobic attacks, Professor Roy said.
Responding to the post, Letsie in a statement said that the comments made by the professor of Sociology are “deeply offensive, insulting and unacceptable, particularly from a senior academic entrusted with teaching, mentoring and shaping the minds of young South Africans.”
The Chairperson said that Institutions of higher learning must be spaces of respect, inclusion and nation building. “Discriminatory and degrading attitudes have no place in post-school education or in our society,” he said.
“Wits University senior management must urgently investigate the matter and take appropriate and decisive action. Universities must hold their staff to the highest ethical and professional standards and must act firmly where those standards are breached,” Letise was quoted as saying in the statement.
Professor Roy issued an apology statement on February 23 stating that she made those comments as a “hasty pushback against xenophobic attitudes”.
“I fully understand that the tweet caused hurt, and I sincerely regret and apologise for this. Given the painful history of racist stereotyping in South Africa, this tweet was simply wrong, and I take full responsibility for the pain it has caused,” she said.
She said that the tweet was not in any way intended to give expression to derogatory views about South Africans or South African academics.
“I want to be expressly clear that I do not hold such views, and my written and committee work and supervision and mentoring stands as testament to that.
I deleted the tweet and posted a quick apology which I now realise was inadequate to the hurt caused,” she said.
She further added that despite the context of academic xenophobia, it was not an acceptable response. “ I acted with poor judgment in this matter, and I take full responsibility for this,” she wrote.
However, the South African Sociological Association (SASA)– an organisation promoting the discipline and the profession of sociology – sought her suspension of her membership from SASA.
They said that the “problematic, classist, racist and xenophobic” remarks made by Professor Roy, contravene SASA’s by laws, principles, objectives and ethos.
The apology was a face-saving attempt, they contended.
“We have noted her retraction without genuine apology on X and see it as lacking rigour, emotion and cause, and as an attempt at face-saving which has rightfully been seen with contempt by the South African academic community and beyond.”
They demanded Professor Roy to recuse herself from the Wits Local Organising Committee (LOC) and all conference-related responsibilities to “safeguard the integrity of the conference among our local and international community.”