Comment
By
Hilton Kolbe *
Student protests currently gripping capital cities
in South Africa have been a catalyst for change since the mid 1970s. Cape Town
and the University of the Western Cape have been no strangers to political unrest,
campus shut downs and police brutality.
In 1973, students were boycotting classes and taking
to the streets to protest against the Afrikaner government and its insistence
on mandatory teaching of Afrikaans. Twenty years later monumental changes
occurred and the student uprisings could be seen as the beginning of the end
for apartheid.
Now in 2015, students are again taking to the
streets in protest.
They are not boycotting classes because universities have
shut the doors in a growing climate of violence and hostility. This time the
protests are against the Zuma government and free university education for all.
Will these events also signal the start of the end for the current political
structures just as it did in 1973? That is hard to say. Probably unlikely given
the current state of the Opposition parties, but the seeds of dissent have been
scattered.
Instead, they agreed to halt any fee increases for this year. Wits University agreed not to increase 2016 tuition and residence fees, with an undertaking that the upfront payment of R9 340 for 2016 would be discussed further. But this was a dark day for the government who capitulated to student demands. It was a cowardly gesture of a government in denial to concede and bow to pressure from those barging at the doors of the lawmakers.
No matter what the circumstances, never concede to thugs and protesters who come knocking at the doors of Parliament seeking gifts. The system does not work this way. It only encourages every other group with a gripe or demand to take similar disruptive action. And to add further insult to fiscal injury, the Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene was forced to delay his mini Budget briefing and MPs had to wait as police struggled to keep an angry mob at bay.
In a country where one in four people are without jobs, the cost of free university education is expected to knock a R2.6 billion blowout in capital expenditure; it is not easy to see where the funds will come from. South Africa is beset by a multitude of developmental problems and embezzlement of public funds. And, what is it that makes these Born Free students feel it is their entitlement.
If there is something that sticks in the craw about
the so-called Born Frees, and by extension the rabidly obtuse Gen Exers with
their sense of entitlement and ability to transform the slightest bit of
adversity into an opportunity for grand reward, then it is the bold self-righteous
way in way in which these vociferous young people go about staking out their
claims.
The student protests have been marred by ugly
scenes, police clashes and more sinister in many cases the momentum has been
driven by participants armed with clubs and weapons. At the University of
Limpopo at least 13 students were arrested as police clamped down on students accused
of burning and looting at the campus. Students went on rampage and vandalised
six cafeterias and a national outlet restaurant after the institution said it
could not commit to their demands for free education.
At Wits students and security guards pelted each other with stones and burly
men in black suits throttled and wrestled students to stop them from disrupting
classes. A bookshop and two vehicles were also set on fire in the early hours
and access control mechanisms on turnstiles were ripped off.The University of the Western Cape was also shut down until further notice after a group of students started rallying support for ongoing protest action across campus buildings and offices and demanding that staff leave the campus. Students preparing for exams were also disrupted.
A statement from UWC said the intensity of the action led to many staff and students feeling vulnerable and intimidated as some in the protest group wore balaclavas and had sticks and crowbars.
Meanwhile
on campus, hundreds of students occupied the university’s Life Science centre where some of
the demands, read out by student Busiswa Ngqamani. Demands included that all
student debts be scrapped, that no students be prevented from graduating
because of outstanding fees and that students should not pay any registration
fees.
Other
demands included that students be able to register for the entire year in
January instead of every semester, and that the university starts a process of
buying houses in the surrounding community and make them UWC communes. (Quoting IoL news reports)
Student
leader Kamva Rubulana said that the president’s announcement of the zero
percent fee increment meant nothing to the students as they were not fighting
for the zero percent increment but for the fall of all fees. “The only way we can stop this shut down is if
the debt problem of UWC students can be resolved, he added.
Ngqamani, included that all student
debts be scrapped, that no students be prevented from graduating because of
outstanding fees and that students should not pay any registration fees. (Quoting IoL news reports)
These
demands come from a privileged few who in the main have had a solid private
education in some of the best schools that have enabled them to obtain a matric
exemption and to enter university with the poshest of English accents. There is
nothing wrong about that. But to demand free university education from a system
that you have not contributed a single cent in tax is very wrong.
So who has to
subsidize these free loaders? A father of four children who makes his way by
taxi van to his labouring job some 50km away and who earns subsistence wages
and pays taxes will not be feeling too happy about the prospective doctors,
lawyers, teachers and engineers demanding free education.
There was
a time when the student protest movement sang revolutionary songs about freedom
isn’t free, it is about time the Gen Exers realised this. Tertiary education is
a privilege, not a right.
A much fairer
and more equitable system would be a user pays scheme perhaps based on the
Australian model of the higher education contribution scheme. Students wishing
to study can accept State funding and have to repay the money when they start
working and paying tax. By using the student’s Identity Number, they are hooked
into a system that will allow them to study and pass or fail at their own cost.
By the time they start out on their career path, the taxman will collect what is
owed. This would be a much fairer scheme for all concerned.
It is
difficult to locate any country in the world that affords students the luxury
of free tertiary studies. Tuition fees at
universities in Cuba vary between $US20, 000 and $US40, 000 depending on the
university and the course of study. The good news is that this is the tuition
fee for the whole course, not just for one year.
Dr Kolbe is a writer and media commentator.
#South Africa student unrest
#kolbeh
#south africa protest
#ShutdownUCT
#fees protest
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