Diaspora Diaries

As a teenager, Anver Saloojee wanted to pursue the sciences and study mathematics. The murder of his uncle by South Africa's apartheid regime and the persecution of his family and friends changed that.

A 1950s child of apartheid South Africa, as Saloojee turned the corner into adolescence he realized that although he might escape persecution at the hands of racist South African police, his race would exclude him from full participation in the development of his country.

In South Africa, apartheid laws placed severe restrictions on the number of non-white students who could enter universities and the professions they could choose.

"In the 1960s the state and its machinery were becoming increasingly repressive," says Saloojee, "My family was an intensely political family and no surprise, I was gravitating to resistance politics."

As a teenage boy, the seeds of resistance politics had been planted and would have a profound impact on how, as an adult, Saloojee would contribute to South Africa and Canada which in 1967 became his new home.

As South Africa's apartheid regime stepped up its efforts to suppress resistance by blacks, Asians and other people of colour, Saloojee's parents decided to leave. They fled South Africa for Canada arriving in November 1967. Of Indian descent, they first considered moving or sending Saloojee and his sister to India, the UK or Egypt, but their mother, who had nursed a Canadian diplomat back to health in Zambia, wanted to migrate to Canada.

Once in Canada, Saloojee completed high school and enrolled at the University of Toronto pursuing an undergraduate degree, masters and a PhD in political science. He then became a tenured professor at Ryerson University's Department of Politics and School of Public Administration. His many papers and lectures on equity, diversity issues, human rights, and in particular socio-political exclusion and inclusion made him a respected voice in political and academic circles.

Saloojee wrote and lectured extensively on social inclusion and exclusion with reference to citizenship, political participation and those marginalized within society. He taught and worked with First Nations leaders and immigrant groups and presented numerous reports on fostering democracy and managing the educational change process in a new South Africa.

As his notoriety grew in Canada, word of his talents reached South Africa. In 2003, Saloojee was asked to serve as Special Advisor to the President in the Government of South Africa.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Saloojee was a member of the African National Congress supporting its fight to put an end to apartheid. "We worked hard for the liberation of South Africa and it was time to put whatever little I had to offer at the disposal of my land of birth," says Saloojee.

His extensive research and work in public administration and social inclusion politics was an asset to South Africa, which was marking the 10th anniversary of the overthrow of apartheid and was in need of help to further transform its bureaucratic infrastructure and society.

After discussing the opportunity with his wife and children, Saloojee and his family left for South Africa in 2004.

His contribution to South Africa has taken many forms, including his involvement in the development and application of the African Peer Review Mechanism, designed to facilitate good governance, accountability and transparency in South Africa and throughout the continent.

Incorporating extensive public consultations, research papers and submissions, under the APRM each country prepares a report and defends its position in front of a peer review committee made up entirely of Africans. "It is a very complex task but an incredibly exciting one as it is fundamentally transformative. It will have an enormous impact on the future political evolution of Africa," says Saloojee.

His days are long and at times taxing, however, the hurdles are familiar, says Saloojee. "The obstacles are the legacy of apartheid. The system was a crime against humanity. South Africa would have been so much further ahead were it not for apartheid," but he adds, "The triumphs are working hard and motivating others to contribute."

Saloojee says his Canadian experience has helped equip him with the tools to carry out his work in South Africa and adds that his teaching and research in politics and public administration have been invaluable. "It is an experience that prepares you to look outward as well as inward. In Canada, the political debates within marginalized communities are about power, representation, voice etc. All these debates echo in South Africa except on a much larger scale," says Saloojee.

While Saloojee praises Canada for its diversity and its efforts to foster a multicultural society based on equity, he says his brush with racism while working as a sessional professor at Ryerson university's sociology department reinforced his view that societies all over the world are vulnerable to prejudice. The incident further fuelled his desire to promote the development of inclusive societies whether in Africa or elsewhere.

"The experience in the sociology department reinforced my commitment to the politics of inclusion over the politics of division," says Saloojee.

He also says his academic work and experience have proved unequivocally that a socially inclusive society can only be built and sustained with fairness, the application of principals of equality and justice. Whether Canadian, South African or any other society is dealing with racialized poverty, the challenges women, people with disabilities, Aboriginals or immigrants face, the principals and practices required to promote inclusiveness as opposed to division are the same.

Saloojee has agreed to serve in his capacity as a special advisor within the term of the present South African government and says the future holds many possibilities.

"I can as easily see myself in South Africa as I can back in Canada, but one thing is certain, in either case I will still be dedicated to social justice, social inclusion, and the politics of transformation."