Today’s students no future for SA

It is really unfortunate that in this country government policy can seemingly change on the spur of a moment. Up until the #FeesMustFall circus it was a commitment of the government to strengthen TVET colleges instead of universities.

The understanding was that the skills shortages in the economy as well as unemployment could be tackled through the proper functioning of TVET colleges. The National Development Programme (NDP), which President Cyril Ramaphosa was part of, came to the same conclusion. The state even set up a commission to probe the possibility of free education which found it was unfeasible. Yet during the last ANC elective conference in a last bid to remain influential, the outgoing loser, Jacob Zuma, announced free education. Clueless students always find themselves as toys in the games for power by their political masters. Recently, student leaders threatened to shut down tertiary institutions all over the country even though the majority of students did not support it.

The issue of populism will continue to overshadow our political landscape because the government of the ANC has proven many times that it only responds to violent protests.

A major concern is that even at university level student leaders have learnt to use protests as a form of getting political recognition.

This leads to the conclusion that their studies are useless and cannot be used to benefit the nation. Otherwise they would engage academically and offer innovative means to address the many problems confronting SA. If students at university level employ the methods of the 1976 school children to address problems in 2019, then we may as well start grooming leaders elsewhere. Khotso Moleko, e-mail