Rhodes Must Fall! One simple, nonviolent, but highly symbolic action managed to ignite a public debate that has moved the public consciousness about our past from apartheid to colonisation.From dealing not only with the impact of 20th-century Afrikaner nationalism but also with the complex and far-reaching consequences of Dutch and British colonialism.This is a welcome shift; for the ambiguity of his character was such that despite being the father, the godfather perhaps, of South Africa's industrial revolution; despite being a major benefactor of UCT and founder of the world's most famous scholarship programme, the bottom line is that Cecil Rhodes is the most potent symbol of British imperialism.story_article_left1As it expanded aggressively into the African subcontinent in the 19th century, with the conquest of occupied land and the establishment of the oscillating migrant labour system as its two most visible manifestations.And so we have to grapple with the ambiguity of South African history. There is a new map, based on the 2011 census, which shows the wellbeing of households throughout the country. One glance shows that most of the poorest areas lie in apartheid's bantustans. This is no accident: for South Africa's migrant labour system was developed, after conquest, by the mining industry from 1867 and expanded by apartheid from 1948. For more than a century, the growing economy generated poverty in the areas from which the miners came, at the same time as it accumulated wealth in cities and commercial farms.Add to this the colour bar of 1893, the land act of 1913, and that compulsory primary education for white children was introduced 100 years before black children, and one sees the deep roots of today's colour-coded poverty and inequality.Yet we recognise that the mission schools of Lovedale, Healdtown, Tiger Kloof and others that produced the Mandelas, Sobukwes, Tambos, Seretse Khamas, Gaositwe Chiepes and others who led the emancipation of Southern Africa were established by the same empire whose guns defeated Maqoma, Hintsa, Cetshwayo, King Sekhukhune and Paul Kruger.We inherit a complex, painful and difficult history.There is much we would wish to change in our past. But the arrow of time moves in only one direction, and we have to start from here; now. A population of some 55million, 10 times as many as at the beginning of the 20th century, speaking 11 official languages, with a rich literature and a range of music the envy of the world. But also an inheritance of massive unemployment, poverty and inequality. Education is fundamental in building the capacity to overcome the poverty and inequality which cripple usIn 1993, unemployment (including those who wanted work but were too discouraged to continue looking for it) for all South Africans averaged 33%, while for young black Africans it was 65%. By 2014, one-third of those who wanted work could not find it; poverty has been slightly reduced but inequality has deepened.In a society with too great a degree of inequality, [French sociologist] Raymond Aron tells us, human community is impossible. This is the seismic fault underlying South Africa today. In the words of [Afro-Caribbean philosopher] Frantz Fanon: "The fundamental duel which seemed to be that between colonialism and anticolonialism, and indeed between capitalism and socialism, is already losing some of its importance.What counts today, the question ... looming on the horizon, is the need for a redistribution of wealth. Humanity must reply to this question or be shaken to pieces by it."So what is to be done? Essentially there are two choices. The first is the use of sustained violence to break down all structures considered obstacles to a just society. This is a chilling option, not only because of the fragility of institutions (not least universities) that can take generations to build, but because it is the path to civil war: a sure road to misery and destruction for all.But a shift in political power is not enough. Economic transformation to match the political democratisation of 1994 is urgent. The mess we have inherited has to be faced head-on.For example, there is a network of universities - of which UCT is an active member - working with government, business, NGOs and unionised workers on an initiative combining research, dialogue and action, seeking to find effective strategies, including new policies, to overcome poverty and inequality. One major function of universities is to be sites of robust intellectual debate about the challenges facing society.This is the challenge to all students graduating today. Much is expected of you. You are the best-educated members of a generation who will take our country, and this continent, into the future.This is the week in which, 40 years ago, young scholars walked out from their schools to demand better education. It was a cause for which they were prepared to die, as hundreds of them did over the next decade. Education is fundamental in building the capacity to overcome the poverty and inequality which cripple us. How do we create an educational system that does not betray the sacrifice of the 1976 generation?story_article_right2But there is more than this. If we look at the 12 most southern countries of Africa and ask where each was in 1960 and where each hoped to be 50 years later, we find that many which were hopeful have failed dismally, while two that had the worst prospects, Botswana and Mauritius, have done remarkably well. This is due to several factors but common to all countries is one fact: the quality of leadership. It is this which will determine where we will be 50 years from now.There is need for a radical creative vision beyond the gods that have failed both on the left and the right. Eastern Europe has tried communism; North America neoliberalism. The results have not been good for either ideology. It is your task to forge that new vision, not least in Southern Africa, and to bring it about.As a Russian revolutionary once said, what is needed are hearts on fire and heads on ice. The future is in your hands.• Wilson has analysed issues affecting social justice in South Africa for more than 40 years through, for example, launching the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit and directing the 3rd Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in South Africa. This is an edited extract of a speech when he received an honorary doctorate from UCT this week...