Mantashe lambastes PE students
Crowd told to take responsibility, help fix problem before college collapses
ANC HEAVYWEIGHT Gwede Mantashe laid into students, parents and union leaders of the Port Elizabeth College after they explained their issues in detail during a meeting at the beleaguered institution’s Iqhayiya campus yesterday.
Students had earlier vowed to boycott the May 7 elections because they were being ignored by political leaders, but softened up to ANC leaders, effectively offering their vote to the party on a silver platter.
Students, parents and union representatives brought Mantashe and his entourage – which included ANC provincial chairman Phumulo Masualle and regional secretary Zandisile Qupe – up to speed with the problems that have seen students striking and out of class for the past eight weeks.
The representatives told the delegation they were not happy with the senior management at the college and wanted administrator Leon Beech removed, accusing him of nepotism, corruption and fraudulently issuing bursaries.
Mantashe – who gave students, parents and union members a lashing about neglecting their duties at the colleges – set the record straight, effectively calling on the crowd to take responsibility and help fix the problems before the college collapsed.
He promised last night to take some of their grievances up with Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande.
“It is not my duty to tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear,” Mantashe told the packed hall. “Students, you are here to learn, not to run management.
“Beech will leave, but you will get a rector who will be a lot stronger than him and [will not] have to run the administration with you. The department found that col- leges were suffering on the administrative front, which was why they seconded administrators to stabilise them.”
Mantashe’s visit to the college comes just a week after students and parents handed over a memorandum to President Jacob Zuma’s office during a visit to Nelson Mandela Bay last Tuesday.
At yesterday’s meeting, parents said they were never called to the college to hear why their children were not in class, while a Nehawu member said they had welcomed Beech on his arrival last May but now wanted him out because of his leadership style.
“I was struck by how the parent said children were out of school for eight weeks. Clearly, someone is not taking responsibility and that person is the parent. If you [parents] do not play your role and think you can outsource your duties, the college will collapse,” he said.
Responding to the Nehawu representative, Mantashe said: “That is typical of trade unions in the public sector. It is a wrong culture, terrible in fact, because unions have the power to take up such matters in a proper manner. I do not encourage that.
“Unions are in a better position to raise issues that students are raising around nepotism and so on [and should] refrain from overlooking the department and running to the ANC because the institution is not run by the ANC, but by the department. We merely deploy people to run it.”
Students have been protesting for two months, primarily against the National Student Financial Aid Scheme bursary allocations.
Student leader Unathi Msuthu said they were glad that Mantashe – who maintained he was not at the meeting to beg for students’ votes, although he wanted them to vote for the ANC – had promised to bring their issues up with Nzimande.
“At least now we will go to the polls on May 7 with clear hearts,” he said to wild applause.