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Zweli Ndlazi
via SMS
Very surprising and interesting. Apartheid was called a crime against humanity because it was using brutality against students. The democratically elected government is using brutal police force against the students for legitimately raising matters that have a serious impact on their futures. What must the present government be called? Maybe satanic or demon possessed.
Mzwandile Pepe Nkomombini
via email
The chaos that is happening at our tertiary institutions is killing me inside. It really worries me to see students spending most of their time outside their lecture rooms. It is not because they like it; it is because of the uncertain circumstances they are facing. Our education system needs urgent attention from government. A nation with a low literacy rate is a doomed one. Our education system has became a privilege, not a right as reflected in the Freedom Charter and the Constitution of the country.
The people must see what corruption is doing to the economy of the country. The money that was supposed to go to education is going down the drain. Education should be at the top of government’s priority list and we should remember that students can start the revolution.
Sharlene Swartz
Cape Town, Western Cape
Ileft my office opposite Parliament after I heard the first stun grenade. The first thing I thought about was Marikana. I couldn’t just stand by if students – many of whom I teach – were going to be hurt by police.
I followed the students into the Parliamentary precinct and asked to speak to the person in charge (isn’t that what white people do?). To my surprise, I was taken to at least three people who were in charge of various aspects of the police action.
Disciplined students were sitting down, holding their hands above their heads in submission, but ran in fear when the grenades and tear gas went off. Many stood their ground against batons, Tasers and tear gas. Their protest was disciplined, well organised and critical for the future of this country.
Their grievances about fees, ongoing oppression and domination by systems that should have long been done away with – along with policies that keep the poor poor – are all our struggles.
The thing to understand from these student protests is that they aren’t primarily anti-white, anti-government or even just about fee increases. They are about wanting a new kind of South Africa: a country in which poverty and exploitation is dealt with; one in which violence is not our first response to student protests; in which belligerence from government ministers and police no longer characterises our society; in which a protest is recognised as a legitimate way of bringing about change; and in which labels of “hooliganism” and “stupid” are not the first responses from the comfortable middle classes – both black and white – towards those who take on the leadership.
Vusi Jiyana
via email
Those who are excluded from education and left unattended will later cause major destruction. As a result, we all won’t enjoy a safe and inclusive environment.
What would you do if you were trapped in poverty and unable to better your life? What would you do if an educational opportunity that you sweat blood for was about to be taken away from you and the minister of higher education was saying it was not a crisis?
Our street corners are piled high with young people who have left school, while our matric results are deteriorating.
Why do we continue to speak about a shortage of skills while our potential is left to perish?
We find ourselves in a situation very similar to the one we were faced with decades ago under white rule. Prior to attaining political freedom, a black child was excluded from attaining proper education and training thanks to laws that were specifically created to exclude blacks.
More than two decades into the new dispensation, all those laws have been eradicated, only to be replaced by financial exclusion.
A black man does not earn a decent salary. Apartheid has ensured that our parents’ skills and opportunities do not enable them to earn a decent living. As a result, a black person simply cannot afford to pay exorbitant fees for his or her children’s education. We have been given political freedom, but are excluded from any chance whatsoever of economic freedom.
All we are asking for is a fair opportunity to access knowledge. If that is too much to ask, then we never achieved democracy
