The death of father of four Mthokozisi Edwin Ntumba at the hands of police during a student protest in Braamfontein last week is an opportune moment to pause and reflect on the eighth of the 10 principles of the Freedom Charter as adopted at the Congress of the People at Kliptown on June 16 1955.
It boldly declared that “the doors of learning and culture shall be opened!”; that the government should discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life; that all the cultural treasures of mankind should be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands.
That the aim of education should be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace; that education should be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children; that higher education and technical training should be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit; that adult illiteracy should be ended by a mass state education plan; that teachers should have all the rights of other citizens; and that the colour bar in cultural life, sport and education should be abolished.
It has been seven years since 2015 and the genesis of #EverythingMustFall, precipitated by #FeesMustFall, followed by #RhodesMustFall, culminating in the decolonisation movement. Since then SA has witnessed annual student protests linked to exclusion on financial grounds, leading to annual disruptions at universities. And yet all of us agree that no student who meets funding and study criteria should be excluded from university, let alone final-year students being prevented from completing their studies because they owe money.
The situation is worsened by the impending fiscal crisis precipitated by the quadruple helix of the pandemic, subinvestment grade ratings, economic recession and the nine wasted years of industrial-scale state capture. The pandemic has led to a year-long national lockdown that has decimated the economy, with many businesses closing, leading to huge job losses. The end result is that the SA Revenue Service has collected less revenue than planned. Because the government is now bankrupt, all department budgets have been cut and therefore budgets must be reprioritised. The department of higher education also has to reprioritise its budget to meet the R7bn shortfall in National Student Financial Aid Scheme money for first-year students. This is on top of the R10bn historic debt of the 26 public universities.
From the days of Sizwe Nxasana’s National Education Collaboration Trust, which involved all social partners, the expectation is that by now common cause and common ground should have been reached to deal decisively with the issue of historical debt. Especially because the cabinet has already agreed that a comprehensive review of student funding policy is urgently required. The burning platform was provided by the surprise announcement — without the necessary planning being finalised — of fee-free higher education.
It is the government that must lead (in consultation with all the social partners and the universities) in finding a sustainable national solution for student historic debt in the short term, towards a more resilient higher education funding model in the long term. What is needed, among other things, is urgent resolution of the proper level of university tuition fee, subsidy funding, student funding, operational expenditure and infrastructure development funding.
Universities were initially created to connect people. In our country, after 27 years of democracy we have succeeded in increasing the percentage of students who attend institutions of higher learning from 7% to 11%. By definition, it makes university students a small part of the elite, and we hope they will resist the temptation to be elitist and therefore exclusionary.
For us, the biggest injustice was exclusion. If 2020 was the year of the digital revolution, let all of us join hands in making 2021 the year of (Noah’s) Ark — bringing people in. To empower universities to become inclusive centres of excellence. To be awake to still persistent inequalities and how these continue to shape our sense of belonging, ownership, identity, access, language, symbols, attitudes and expectations. To support the emergence of institutions that nurture young people to come out of these institutions not only with hard skills but with a sense of social justice, critical thinking and curiosity.
To conceptualise ethical frameworks that will guide societal engagement with universities. To promote public ownership of higher education institutions, where the public recognises its role as both beneficiary and stakeholder in the accomplishments of universities. To develop a social justice approach to higher education, where universities propel democratic engagement and advocate for academic freedom, which nurtures success of the higher education system through assessments of different perspectives.
We must continue our incessant, consistent and persistent pursuit of equality. To inform, inspire and ignite new efforts to achieve a world where, eventually, every student, every woman and every man, every black person and every white person, can look forward to fair and equal treatment — a world in which being a woman or a black person is not a barrier to becoming a leader in any field, nor a factor contributing to negative perceptions of an individual’s leadership.
Equality affects everyone and has the potential to benefit everyone. We all lose out if we dismiss it as simply a student, women’s or black people’s issue. Much more is needed to achieve equality than mere compliance with the law. All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common, the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.
The Freedom Charter concludes that “these freedoms we will fight for, side by side, throughout our lives until we have won our liberty”.
• Mohale is chancellor of the University of the Free State, professor of practice in the Johannesburg Business School College of Business & Economics, and chair of Bidvest Group and SBV Services. A past president of the Black Management Forum, he is author of ‘Lift As You Rise’.
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