If most of the striking students were pampered pooches striking for increased privileges or the guarantee of existing privileges it would be another story altogether – but that’s not the case, is it?
What we have here are institutions that were created for a privileged and wealthy minority (indicated by the ridiculously expensive tuition and deposit fees) designed to consign generation after generation of our youth (particularly those from disadvantaged groups) to lives of servitude.
We need to move beyond Call Centre’s’ and Data Capturing and start nurturing future Doctors, Chartered Accountants, Lawyers, Scientists and Engineers from our own communities so that we can support them.
To achieve that, we must demand access to institutions’ of higher learning - we’ve lost generations of talented people because corporates who make their billions off the sweat of our people (most only pay for job specific courses restricting growth) and politicians told us there was no money to pay for children’s’ varsity education and yet there has always been money for everything else; luxury vehicles, teams of security personnel, sports events, marketing and electioneering.
What progress have we made if we have no choice but to give our money right back to outside Specialists like Doctors and Retail outlets for goods and services as most of our people hardly manage to get by and cannot afford college funds to empower our own future generations into providing those goods and services to our communities’.
All the while the Professor Habib’s’ of this world are taking home millions each year from those same institutions (funded by our tax money) without so much as showing an iota of shame.
To be clear, our people were robbed systemically and by brute force via past policies that ensured and guaranteed inequality survived and thrived by all means necessary - it cannot be taboo to say we are owed a great big debt that goes even further than just the right to proper free education.
Expect the privileged to close ranks and use similar draconian measures as days gone by, worse, we will be held back by that same old system and by some of our very own former Comrades – Trevor works for the Rothschild’s’ now you know, who own most Reserve Banks via their IMF, World Bank and ratings agencies.
Refusal by current political leadership to prioritize education (seen by the closure of most Trade schools) and their refusal to step aside for younger leadership, are just two of many hindrances towards rejuvenation of the national movement (so much for lessons being learnt after the LGE) – not to mention strong resistance to real change by opposition parties (for a more equal distribution of land and resources) – gives us a strong recipe for continued future conflict with not many real winners in the end.
In the meantime, we keep fighting for a fair share of the pie and economic freedom in which we all enjoy basic privileges that restore us to our rightful place - and hope that sanity prevails.
#FeesMustFall
Peter Tracey is an Independent Analyst and writes in his Personal Capacity.
He covers many issues and trends ranging from the political and socio-political to the economic and socio-economc and then of course he also covers identity issues.
Peter is iemand wat nie 'n lap om 'n gesonde vinger draai nie...
You can Click Here to check out his personal blog 'The Last Word'.