The Dismissal of Fazel Khan

On Wednesday 25 April Fazel Khan was summarily dismissed from his position as a lecturer in the Sociology Department. He had been charged with 'bringing the university into disrepute' after he had made comments about the authoritarian climate at the university. These comments were made in response to questions put to him by various newspapers after he was removed from a photograph and the text of an article in UKZNdaba on the international success of a film that he had co-directed. The University Management initially tried to argue that Fazel had had himself removed from the photograph (they ignored the fact that he had also been removed from the text of the article) as a 'plot' to embarrass the university. But in the hearing a witness for the prosecution acknowledged that in fact Fazel had been interviewed for the UKZNdaba story making any claims of a 'plot' patently ludicrous.

Fazel had argued that he had been excluded from the UKZNdaba story because there was an intimidatory climate at the university which had singled him out for his role during the strike as a unionist. UKZNdaba has never corrected the story or apologised for the excision of Fazel. The UKZN management has never explained why, if Fazel was not been targeted, he was publicly threatened by the vice-chancellor, for his work with the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo or why the vice-chancellor had threatened Fazel that 'I will deal with you' for 'helping shack dwellers on the Westville campus to write a letter' and for his activities as a union PRO via the Gautschi Commission.

In the run up to the hearing the vice-chancellor circulated entirely unsubstantiated and plainly slanderous and libellous allegations against Fazel. Fazel is not the first academic to have been slandered by the management in this way. Just before the hearing began a second charge was added and Fazel was also accused of passing on a Senate Sub-Committee Report on authoritarianism on the campus to The Mercury.

The hearing was chaired by Christine Qunta, well known for defending the President's AIDS denialism and Snuki Zikalala's authoritarianism at the SABC. It was conducted with such high security that Fazel's lawyer had to be smuggled on to the campus in the boot of a car and Fazel himself battled to get through the 7 security barriers surrounding the venue. He was denied legal representation.

Fazel was found guilty on all charges and dismissed. The transcript and other documents relating to the hearing are online at http://www.abahlali.org .It is clear that the judgement bares very little relation to the evidence actually led.

With regard to the charge that Fazel had bought the University into disrepute the prosecution clearly failed to show that Fazel's comments to the press were not accurate and they clearly failed to come up with a credible alternative explanation as to why Fazel had been excluded from the photograph and text of the UKZNdaba article. But Fazel, an expert witness from the Freedom of Expression Institute, and two senior UKZN academics with impeccable democratic and struggle credentials, all argued that in any event the right to academic freedom is absolute. One has as much freedom to make an incorrect analysis as one does to make a correct analysis. The prosecution mounted no serious opposition to these arguments.

With regard to the charge of leaking the document it was shown that a large number of people had access to the document and Fazel stated that he had not leaked the document. The prosecution bought one witness who stated that Fazel had told her in a telephone conversation that he had leaked the document. However it was shown that at the time of the strike Fazel has moved that this witness be suspended from the union for publicly opposing the strike which the union members had supported in a strike ballot. It was clear that there was serious tension between Fazel and his union and this witness. A person cannot be dismissed on the unsubstantiated claim of a single witness with whom there is longstanding tension. However the expert witness from the Freedom of Expression Institute also argued that in any event the leaking of the document would have been protected by the Protected Disclosures Act. This evidence was simply ignored by the prosecution and the chair.

Immediately after he was summarily dismissed Fazel was called into the vice-chancellor's office where he was warned not to speak to the media or to the Freedom of Expression of Institute. But immediately after his dismissal he was slandered in articles in the Daily News and the Witness that contained allegations about his behaviour that had no relation to the evidence actually led in the hearing.

Fazel has since written a letter to all COMSA members which lays out his position on this matter and the state of UKZN. It is online at http://www.abahlali.org At the time of writing the COMSA exec has failed to pass his letter on to COMSA members - no doubt due to the climate of fear and intimidation at the University. Fazel has received support from across all the UKZN campuses, from people across the country and as far away as Lagos, New York and Istanbul where a demonstration will soon be held outside the South African embassy. He will be taking this up in the courts where he will contest this as an academic freedom rather than a technical issue.

If we are silent now then we will have acquiesced to an unconscionable attack on a colleague, widely respected as a teacher, a critical intellectual, a unionist and a democratic activist who had stood for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and for the rights of shackdwellers. We will also have acquiesced to an attack on our university and therefore on ourselves. The time to act is now. If we stand together we can act safely and effectively and save this university from a ruthless suppression of basic freedoms.

Petition to Demand the Re-instatement of Fazel Khan

We, the undersigned members of staff at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, hereby register our outrage at the summary dismissal of Fazel Khan and the broader crack down on the expression of views critical of the management of our university. Academics the world over have insisted that universities are not corporations and that no university has the right to demand that its employees refrain from being critical of university managers. In South Africa there is a particular constitutional protection for academic freedom - a freedom which clearly includes the right to be critical of university managers. Our demand is simple. Fazel Khan must be immediately re-instated.