October 2015 will be
always be remembered as the month that students post 1994 made the biggest mark
in South African (if not Afrikan) history. The eventful weeks of the student
uprising began with a documentary from Stellenbosch University “Luister”, of
Students who were calling out the university out on its racist language
policies and the racism within the institution. This was followed by UCT
students calling for the fall of the colonial statues of Cecil Rhodes on the
university campus. The statue
represented the colonial rule and legacy, of black hurt and lived experience of
the Afrikan person (#Rhodesmustfall). This would only be the launching pad of
what was to follow.
Students from all over the country became “woke” (awakened)
to the reality of the African student and there position in the former
apartheid universities. The announcement of the 2016 fee increment in
universities around South Africa, was met with a response from the students of
WITS calling for #FeesMustFall and a zero fee increment. A call was made to student
leaders all over the county, to drop all political hats and political
affiliations and to protest and march for a common cause, of students standing
together and in solidarity for those who could and would not be able to afford
higher education in 2016.
Universities all over the country joined the movement calling
for fees to fall, with intentions of the movement geared towards free
education, not just a zero fee increment. This call for “fees must fall” was informed by freedom charter “Education
shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children; Higher
education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state
allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit (1955).” This is a
call for the state to provide quality free education for those who cannot
afford it. Students flew from all over the country to join the march to the
union building with a memorandum from the student leaders.
These student movements from “Rhodes must fall”, “fees must
fall”, to “Afrikaans must fall”, are a response of the “Awakening” (A. K Armah 1968), of Afrikan students,
in a deeply unequal colonial country that is South Africa and the untransformed
education institutions post 1994.
We need to understand that this movement and call for transformation
and free equal education is not a new one, while the student of 2015 may be
compared to the youth of June 1976. The correct comparison would be the
students of 1960 (SASO) who were “radical” students of Black consciousness,
calling for the decolonising of the African institutions. These issue are not unique to the 2015
students, but rather have been issues of African students who have been using
frameworks and pedagogies of Afrikan scholars and philosophers such as Fanon,
Biko, Armah and Du Bois.
The Afrikan student condition in institutions of higher
learning, is one that does not favour them economically and culturally. In the
height of the student protests, students were victimised and criminalised by
university management, calling the police force to deal and disperse the
students. Pre- 1994 it is rumoured that universities had policies against the
police and army from coming onto campus, it is said that when they did come,
academic staff would stand between the students and the police (L. Naidoo,
2015). The treatment of the protesters who were majority Afrikan students, once
again proved to the students that the system had no black empathy.
The students movements were not only about falling down of
statues, but rather of systems and conditions that did not favour the Afrikan
majority, which was embedded cultures of the institutions, which also affected
the general workers of the institutions, who are paid R2 500, with no
benefits and no access to the academia of the institutions, which some have
been servicing for over 30 years. With cases reported by workers at WITS, of
them not being allowed to use general bathrooms. The call is for the fall of
colonial, unAfrikan institutional cultures and curriculum.
2015 will go down in history as the year students made the
world listen and be aware of the unjust systems of the so called African
Universities in South Africa.
Where are we now?
2016 began with more protest from the so called apartheid
universities, like, UP, UFS, WITS, UCT and new universities like NMMU. One of
the issues of 2016 was of language (Afrikaans). These universities were called
out by students for their racist and exclusive language policies that allowed
lectures to use Afrikaans in lectures halls, where Afrikan students could not
understand the language of teaching.
This brought the issue of decolonization and Afrikan
institutions to the forefront. While there have been outburst of violence and
vandalizing of institutions, the real dialogue has been centralized around transformation
and decolonising of these institutions. Different universities have seen
formations of new “woke” (Awakened) movements addressing issues of inequality,
the vision and how the Afrikan institutions will look like. Universities like
NMMU have seen the formations of societies like Black Stockvel, Transform Pukkes
at UFS, UPrising at UP.
While SRC’s may have the democratic right in these institutions
to represent the students, leaders of these movements do not regard the SRC as
true representatives of the struggles and movements. Students seem to have
gained power and voices over social justice issues and gender inequality issues
in the university spaces.
2016 may see a higher focus on the gender agenda, also we are
seeing more engagements from institutions like Rhodes, NMMU, WITS, and UCT in
decolonising dialogues and research.
A question of where are the students whom led some of these
movements arises? Institutions have FMF and RMF committees made up of general
students and politically affiliated student. Although there were political
organizations that tried claiming the movements, some supplying food and water to
the students, with some of the leaders pushing political score points, which caused
a drifts and a backlash from some of the members of these groups.
Some students are facing indictments from their institutions
(UCT) and legal battles. Students are not quite, but rather they seem to be
using their platforms to speak out and up for decolonization of their
institutions, in gender, systems of governance, culture and curriculum.
By: Sinazo Mtshengu
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