Transformation, social cohesion and discrimination in public higher education institutions in South Africa still continue to preoccupy politicians and academics. Evidence suggests a lack of progress on transformation and a pervasive racial discrimination on university campuses. The latter, especially in its overt form by some students in one of the public higher education institutions, prompted the Minister of Education to set up a committee to investigate the issues. The findings were distressingly compelling. I discuss the issues at a conceptual level with the objective of contributing to the process of refining and developing "transformative mechanisms". This derives in part from the findings that higher education institutions fail to comprehend what is meant by transformation and social cohesion. In relation to the substantive issues in the Report of the Committee, it is suggested that, whilst racial prejudice in its overt form may have declined, there exists "racism by intent", the result of which informs institutional cultures and practices co-ordinated and regulated by criteria that reflect "abstract systems".