The recent student protests take me back to my fresher-year at varsity: walking to class through a fog of smoke, the burning flames, the fall of the Cecil John Rhodes-statue and the wake-up call of how elitist our education system really is. It almost feels like we are back in 2015/16, and it is a tragedy that five years later there has been little change. Our institutions of study and the government remain heartless in ignoring the pleas from students, even in the midst of a global pandemic that has forever changed our lives and devastated the financial situations of students.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) recently announced that there is a funding shortfall for the 2021 academic year, rendering it unable to fund new students. This has sparked the recent student debt protests that have culminated in the killing of Mthokozisi Ntumba, who was murdered by the police in the #WitsProtest. It reminded many of us of the police brutality prevalent in South Africa and was a haunting reminder of every comrade we have lost in the fight for affordable education. For the 2021 academic year, thousands of students are unable to register and continue their studies solely because of financial exclusion. This includes some of the most brilliant student artists, doctors, politicians, lawyers, scientists, engineers, and accountants. It is estimated that there is an outstanding student debt of R 13bn in South Africa. Historical fee debt is a significant barrier between students and their futures. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has left the country broke and many families destitute, it is disheartening that the youth are left to bear the brunt. There is no funding for students in South Africa, whilst billions of Rands are lost to corruption and nepotism (something that even NSFAS have been proven guilty of). A systemic resolution is needed.
Our institutions of study continue to be openly fired at and opportunities for funding of studies are perpetually denied. Studying at university has become a tsunami of stress, financial exclusion, and racial gendered discrimination. Every single year (without change), students who deserve to study at university are excluded, simply because they cannot afford tuition. Every year we protest as students but, the universities and the government only make concessions to fill the gaps, while the cycle continues, and the system remains brokenly unchanged. Every year we mourn the loss of more students and comrades who fight for the most basic human right: education. How much longer must we see our classmates murdered? Or shot with rubber bullets and teargassed? How much longer will the system favour the wealthy? How many more of our fellow students will be thrown in jail or lose their lives? How many more will be trapped in the oppressive education system that 30 years after Apartheid, still favours the white minority? Why is there no funding for the future of South Africa?
It is our future leaders that are financially excluded. It is our future doctors, lawyers, politicians who are financially excluded. It is those who will bring our country out of the capture of colonialism, racism, and hatred who are financially excluded. It is the future of our country that we are sacrificing. Students have rose against oppression in 1976 and 2015, and we will continue until there is change. We need a new student funding policy process that addresses the issue of funding for disadvantaged and destitute students as a matter of urgency. After all, our entire future and even South Africa’s democracy depends on the unhindered education of our youth.
The tertiary funding model in South Africa is broken. Temporary measures implemented by the tertiary education institutions are not enough, and the same situation will continue to play out if there is no immediate change. We must be outraged, and we must continue to demand sustainable change. This fight for affordable education has cost the lives and futures of many students. So, we will continue to fight so that those who come after us can have theirs regardless of the walks of life that they come from. We have no fear. A luta continua. Victory is certain.