Change the world
Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation
The Experimental Writing Space serves as a place for students to express themselves freely. Members of the reading group are encouraged to express their views, ideas, and thoughts about the texts and topics discussed during our reading group meetings in this space. They may express themselves through poetry, photography, essays, reviews, or other forms of expression. This open area is essential for improving student participation in written work. This will be crucial in determining how the reading group has affected scholarship in general.
JUL 2025
What Kind of Legacy Will You Leave Behind?
Simthembile Msakatya questions choices made by ‘leaders’ today and further examines the urgent need to transform and modernize South Africa’s educational structures and/ systems. Highlighting struggles of self-funded students; the moral imperative of equity in education; and consequences of inaction. The piece argues that true progress requires dismantling apartheid legacies in education systems and rebuilding systems centred on equity.
Hip Hop as a protest movement: The case of Gigi Lamayne
Mxolisi Nomdletshe explores Hip Hop as a protest movement through the lens of South African rapper Gigi Lamayne’s 2016 song “Fees Will Fall.” Analysing her bold critique of systematic injustices during the wake of #FeesMustFall movement. The writer exemplifies the power of Hip Hop in challenging socio-economic injustices.
Decoloniality
I’m Mfanelo Dlomo, a third year BA (Human Resource Management) student. I wrote this poem titled “Decoloniality” at the Madibaz Reading Group and Experimental Writing Space. It’s about my imagination of decolonizing the university environment. I was in emotions of sadness that we’ll never experience the ancient natural black people’s lifestyle. My key message is to give a glimpse of what life could have been if it was not modernized. It also reflects how we’ve become so materialistic that we remove nature to replace it with human made objects.
The Manifesto of the Excluded
Keneilwe Natu presents a powerful outcry against legacies of apartheid in the voice of Nelson Mandela University students. The poem confronts systematic oppression, racism, and denial of dignity while demanding free education as a gateway to liberation. The poem frames students as both victims and warriors for change, blending the haunting past and present resistance.
The Ripple Effect: A Former Student
Siyamdumisa Vena shares his personal narrative tracing his journey as a student leader at Nelson Mandela University. Underpinning the ripple effects of activism- personal sacrifice from frontline protesters, student arrests, the repercussions of these arrests and lack of institutional accountability. The writer, through personal reflection and academic insights, explores how writing transforms struggle into resistance, healing trauma, amplifying demands for decolonization and equity in university spaces.
The smoke clears
Katlego Mofokeng lays bare the brutal cost of oppression and forced surrender. The poem speaks to the silencing of resisting black bodies, sacrifice of dignity, the illusion of safety under systematic violence, and memory. Where, under colonial power, submission is framed as peace.
Sinethezekile Mpanza
CriSHET Intern
Sinethezekile.Mpanza@mandela.ac.za