The Rhodes University Institute of Social and Economic Research proudly presented this year’s Dr AB Xuma memorial lecture by Professor Gavin Williams. As a prelude to the talk Rhodes University’s Professor of Social Policy Robert van Niekerk provided a brief biography of the heroic activist whose memory was honoured on this occasion.?

Alfred Bitini Xuma was a celebrated doctor, leader, educator and thinker of humble Eastern Cape extraction whose historical recognition remains disproportionately low given his profound contributions to democracy and social policy. Originator of the African Claims’ Bill of Rights and erstwhile president of the ANC, Xuma was a champion of equality and human rights who was far ahead of his time. A key figure in the liberation struggle he always accepted the plurality of political thought and successfully unified divergent groups who opposed the apartheid regime. Xuma’s critical writings encompassed issues and ideas such as citizenship, social policy, inequality and law and some of his prevalent currents of thought were echoed in Professor Williams’ memorial lecture.

Williams is a respected sociologist and political philosopher whose impressive career spans several decades as well as a multitude of subjects and disciplines. He is also a shining example of the scholarly activist and had political and academic associations with notables such as Ruth First. Like Xuma, he has always advocated an academia that aligns itself with the oppressed and the excluded.

The talk explored a trilogy of topics: social policy, development policy and citizenship and the complex interrelation between the three. The speaker delved into the illusive multifaceted origins of these notions and considered the lived realities which engender - and are engendered by - these ideas.

To engage with these concepts we must first examine the ideas of state and statehood. Is the state merely a series of social relationships or is it an agency which arranges power and control? Williams warns that, though these are just ideas, they have an acute impact on everyday life and are thus worthy of considerable scrutiny and deliberation. State and social policy are ideas which give meaning to, and provide a vocabulary for, the actions which arise from them.

Williams’ noted, only half-jokingly, that the first law of the social sciences is the law of unintended consequences. Social policy is often a result of equitable goals which manifest unintended consequences, which in turn give rise to new policy.

The idea of development itself was given a thorough dialectical probing. Development is a system of ideas rather than a definable concrete process. The study of development is problematic and paradoxical because it is both an end and a means. Also noteworthy is that freedom cannot be attained without development, yet freedom is a prerequisite for development to transpire.

As a conclusion to this thought-provoking talk, Williams analysed Titmuss’ The Gift Relationship (1970) which proposes the notion of human blood as a currency which, in some systems, is bought and sold and, in others, is given as a gift. Donation of blood speaks to Williams’ theories around state and citizenship. Both citizenship and the blood donor system are in essence systems of shared moral responsibility.

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Picture: Prof Gavin Williams.