RU starts the year with optimism

From Page 3

In a Facebook post on 11 February, the student movement Asinamali said, “We've quietly been watching the accommodation crisis unfold. People post about digs available for exorbitant prices - some of our parents barely earn enough to feed whole families, let alone pay rent for one person in Grahamstown. "We've been saying the rent is too high. We don't like protesting, really we don't. But what must happen?

Regarding protests, Mabizela strongly believes peaceful protest is everyone’s constitutional right. However, he said, “Violence will destroy our universities. We cannot and should not normalise violence and destruction.

"If we continue using violence as a legitimate form of engagement, our working class citizens will suffer the most.

"Those who can afford education will go overseas and into the private sector to access higher education and the poor will be left with nothing.”

Member of the Concerned Staff Group on the Rhodes University campus, Corinne Knowles, said protests this year were still very likely because the issues around funding had still not been addressed.

“Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I would like to believe people are going to put negotiations in the forefront this year before things are set in stone,” Knowles said.

She said she had observed that the Rhodes University code had been amended, with students now being asked to sign agreement that they would not get involved in anything that interferes with the normal activities of the University. Last year more than 20 students were arrested during protest actions and an additional 18 were handed high court summons.

These students are expected to make court appearances in the coming weeks.

Asked about these students, Mabizela said, “Once people are arrested they are out of our control and the criminal justice system takes its course.” He said the same applied for those who had received high court summons.

“Not a single student was victimised because of their involvement in fees must fall,” Mabizela said.

Mabizela also decried the “pernicious scourge of genderbased violence at Rhodes”.

He said a task team had been appointed to look at this issue and had made recommendations on how to eradicate it, and Rhodes was currently working at implementing some of them.

“We are approaching the start of the academic year with a great deal of optimism. We are not on opposing ends with our protesting students. We need to work together to find ways of fixing the situation while we continue with teaching and learning,” Mabizela said.