#FeesMustFall protests were not aimed at ANC government
THE recent nationwide student protests over exorbitant fee increases at universities were historic and ground-breaking.
The #FeesMustFall movement was waging an unrelenting revolutionary battle against the exclusionary tactics of university managers. It argued that university managers were using exorbitant fee increases as a ploy to marginalise and exclude financially needy students.
The #FeesMustFall movement drew a line in the sand and declared that enough is enough.
What was baffling was some of the media coverage and analysis casting the student protests as an uprising against the ANCled government. Some mainstream media outlets went as far as projecting the protests as a youthful revolution against the ANC’s failed policies. Other commentators indulged, comparing the student protests to the Arab Spring.
But #FeesMustFall was neither a revolution nor an uprising against the government. To the contrary, these protests were not geared at challenging the legitimacy of the government. These protests were about challenging notions of affordability and unaffordability. Universities have been and are still using “affordability ” criteria for student admission and registration.
This implies that academically-gifted students from impoverished backgrounds are usually locked outside the gates and mainstream of tertiary education.
Recently, former Unisa vice-chancellor Barney Pityana wrote in a weekly newspaper that: “It is fair to say that the protests and upheavals at universities this year have been precisely about making higher education not just available and accessible, but also affordable. ”
Universities accord much prominence to students’ financial backgrounds rather than to their respective academic performance. The display of academic excellence and brilliance among students is no longer the central preoccupation of universities.
That cold reality has consequently emasculated and paralysed the quality of intellectualism, scholarship and authorship in the country. Prof Pityana’s sentiments were re-echoed, in a rather militant undertone, by outgoing Wits SRC president Shaeera Kalla when she charged: “Wits ’ proposed fee increases are simply unjust and unjustifiable. How long is Wits going to continue to exclude poor students?”
How long should universities continue to marginalise and exclude financially needy students from the mainstream of higher education?
An academically underperforming student from a wealthy family is usually guaranteed admission at any university. But an academically brilliant student from an impoverished family background is more likely to face academic and financial exclusion at university.
This is evidence that our universities have lost their sense of institutional purpose. Universities are there to act as a catalyst for intellectualism, scientific dis- covery, knowledge production and scholarship.
I was also intrigued by the alarming lack of historical perspective in the mainstream media’s reportage and commentary on student protests. It is intellectually flawed to suggest that these protests were not precipitated by historical dynamics.
Historical determinism reminds us of the interconnectedness between history and contemporary developments. These protests were invariably tied to our past of legalised racism and the systematic exclusion of black people from these very institutions of higher learning.
Historically white universities were largely funded and massively supported by the government and the private sector. Historically black universities were minimally funded by the apartheid regime. The [white] private sector was uninterested and unwilling to invest in the provision of Bantu education.
SA ’ s universities, especially historically white campuses, are still trapped in the elitist ideology and using affordability as an exclusionary tool perpetuates the historical imbalances in higher education.
Discounting or ignoring historical imperatives prevents us from understanding the true motivations behind these protests. Contemporary commentators and analysts should heed Karl Marx’s classic injunction that “the real motive of scientific exploration and analysis is to extract insight, and provide clarity of thought and action.”
Masoga is political analyst and researcher at the Institute for Dialogue and Policy Analysis
“Universities still
trapped in elitist ideology