Rhodes Scholar and former Oxford Don RW Johnson, is a rare canary in South Africa’s politically correct coal mine. His masterful book How Long Will SA Survive? played an incalculable role in educating us about the disaster the country has been heading towards. It served to embolden other commentators, helping awaken the complacent and ignorant from their slumbers.

In another watershed contribution, first published on Politicsweb, Johnson focuses his brilliant mind on developments at UCT, the continent’s leading university. Having had a front row seat to the disaster which enveloped what used to be the country’s number three university, UKZN, Johnson shares worrying similarities with what is happening in his new home town.

Speaking with a Capetonian’s vested interest, he offers some forthright suggestions on how the city – and the province – must act to avoid its treasure sliding into the obscurity of academic mediocrity. – Alec Hogg