The ANC isn’t cutting it, says student leader

Students cannot be expected to pay back study loans after they graduate and are employed because they are then paying tax to the state, says Sydney Madibo ,Student Representative Council chairperson at North West University Vaal campus.

Addressing Sharpeville residents at an event organised by youth organisation YB20 last week, Madibo was explaining the background of the #FeesMustFall campaign to the community.

“After becoming employees in our state, we are going to be contributing taxes and while doing that we still have to pay back different kinds of student loans, including from the National Students Financial Aids Scheme,” he said.

“We need to come to the realisation that the ANC government is not fulfilling the aspirations of young people and people living in society at large,” Madibo said to resounding applause from locals who were packed into Sharpeville’s community hall.

Local ANC leaders, including Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Des van Rooyen, were scheduled to attend the event, which was also held to remember those who lost their lives during the 1984 Vaal uprisings.

According to the organiser, Motseki Mabuya, most of the ANC leaders cancelled their planned attendance on the eve of the event.

The hall where the event was held does not have electricity and residents discussed service delivery issues.

The SABC’s Lesedi FM and a local community radio station, Thetha FM, broadcasted their current affairs programmes in the dark.

Madibo said while he had not experienced apartheid, today’s South Africa was not the country that many fought for.

“I’m saying this because Minister Des van Rooyen and other local leaders were supposed to be here.

“Whenever they need our votes, they are never too busy to come to residents and conduct door-to-door visits.

“What does this tell us about the government that we continue to vote into power?

“The mere fact that we continue to vote them into power is the reason why we are sitting in the dark today. Because they know that five years from now we are going to vote them back into power,” Madibo said.

He pointed out that the ANC of today could not be compared to the ANC of Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela.

“If we were to go into a serious debate about Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela and other stalwarts and compare their characters to the current ANC leaders, there is no way you can compare Tambo to Jacob Zuma,” Madibo said.