College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences

Promoting African philosophy – Rutang bana ditaola, le seye le tšona badimong

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Unisa’s Prof Machete Machete of the Department of Environmental Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, recently delivered his inaugural lecture, titled: Unravelling the epistemology and ontology of African philosophy – Rutang bana ditaola le seye le tšona badimong.

Prof Machete Machete

In his lecture, Machete unravelled the importance of teaching African indigenous knowledge and systems in African universities. He argued: "There is greater value in adopting African indigenous traditions in our governments, courts and education than in the current foreign knowledge and systems used to run African countries."

The lecture highlighted the current failures associated with African countries governed through foreign systems, and the competitiveness of African countries with other nations in the globe. Machete remarked: "The impact of indigenisation is used to show how Asia became a competitive continent after colonisation compared to Africa, which remains the poorest continent of the world due to its inability to indigenise."


Academic perseverance and research influence

Machete affirmed: "During my academic journey, I learned that every human effort, including education, is anthropogenic and should serve to promote longevity and quality of human life." He added: "I partitioned my life firstly into segments of twenty years. My first twenty years focused on academic accomplishment; no family of my own existed during this period. I only started a family after I had obtained my master’s degree, and I pushed to get my PhD in 2014 before my kids were born. Finally, at 40, I got the professorship."

His research interests are jurisprudence (legal philosophy), environmental health, environmental management, environmental science, and African indigenous knowledge (ontology and epistemology). For Machete, these research interests influence the desire to contribute towards increasing the lifespan and quality of life of all Africans.


A passion for teaching

Machete is a passionate teacher who has supervised several students. "I chose a career in education to contribute to reforming the philosophy of knowledge and introducing African indigenous knowledge in schools and the university environment." He continued: "My desire is for higher education to stop teaching foreign knowledge systems and instead, build a new form of education based on African philosophy and indigenous traditions."

Machete is working on turning some of his research outputs into job-creating opportunities to fight poverty, unemployment and inequality. He also advocates for the empowerment of communities to help fight corruption, increase community participation to deepen constitutional democracy, and contribute to the decolonisation of African knowledge and systems of governance.

He concluded: "The legacy I want to leave behind is to be of service to fellow human beings without expecting anything in return or recognition."

* By Gugulethu Ngcobo, Admin Marketing Assistant, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences

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Publish date: 2022-08-11 00:00:00.0

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