Student protests expose weaknesses

THE ongoing nationwide student protests against university fees, popularly known as #FeesMustFall, have once more exposed the government s indecisiveness and laid bare its incompetence in governing the country with the necessary authority and diligence.

By allowing the situation to degenerate into anarchy and lawlessness, the government has unwittingly politicised it, and in the process the real reasons for the students actions have been blurred.

With big corporates, manage- ment at various institutions of higher learning and the police, the government has connived to turn this issue into a political football game, with some cabinet ministers, political rivals and business vultures all tearing into each other in an attempt to prove the pros and cons of the #FeesMustFall campaign.

The students, on their part, have allowed unruly and opportunistic elements to infiltrate them, and tarnish the good cause for which they are fighting.

All the while, lives are being threatened and lost, with many hours of study and work and millions of rands going up in smoke as the protests are being hijacked by rogue and unscrupulous elements, thus undermining the real needs of the poor students.

Images of running battles fought between students and heavily armed police and security personnel have become reminiscent of the past era.

However, what is even more worrying this time around, is the fact that South Africa finds itself in a space and time where there is a serious dearth of good leadership, at all levels of government and society, thus rendering the current situation susceptible to political manipulation and expediency.