A LOT OF THINGS ARE WRONG WINNIE

STRUGGLE stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela yesterday made a call to revisit the Freedom Charter in light of the ongoing violent student protests for free education.

Speaking at a former family home, now the Mandela Museum in the famous Vilakazi Street in Orlando West, Soweto, MadikizelaMandela admitted there were problems in the country’s education system which resulted in youth from poor backgrounds struggling to access education.

She said the government had since 1994 failed to deliver on free education.

“We cannot pretend that things are well. There are a lot of things that are wrong,” she said.

“We need to revisit the Freedom Charter. What did we do since 1994? Why is there so much corruption? You turn, everywhere the word is corruption.”

She lamented Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande’s announcement this week that universities can increase fees by no more than 8% next year, saying the issue with the protesting students is free education as promised in the Freedom Charter. Drafted in 1955 and adopted by the ANC government as its guiding document, it says that the doors of learning should be open to all.

She said the government should have addressed the matter better, with the students’ first demand made last year.

Madikizela-Mandela was initially scheduled to address the media jointly with former England and Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand.

However, this did not happen when Ferdinand left while Madikizela-Mandela was still talking to the media.

The Mandela Legacy Project had issued a media invite for an interaction it described as a “conversation to prioritise youth development and create employment opportunities for them”.

The media was told when asking for an audience with Ferdinand that he had left.

Madikizela-Mandela briefly spoke about Ferdinand’s visit, saying the meeting was meant to be a platform to exchange views on youth problems.

Ferdinand has a foundation that deals with youth issues.