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Since October 2015 South African universities have been in between a rock and a hard place.
Students became tired of talking , begging and negotiating with Varsity Managers over the yearly fees and residence increment. They with fine charcoal drew momentum from the well of the #RhodesMustFall movement (which advocated for the removal of apartheid reflecting statues. These were seen as instruments of white supremacy and all races were not comfortable with them) and started the #FeesMustFallMovement.
Color , age , political affiliation and gender were written with white ink on white paper as students marched , torched ,chanted and got arrested to have their plight heard.
During this struggle we saw celebrities like AKA, Ntsiki Mazwai , Gareth Cliff and many urging students to fight for what they believe in as this should be a democratic country.
The pressure caved in when the president of the republic Jacob Zuma announced that there will be 0% fee increment for the academic year of 2016.
As the country calmed down to sit for exams. Student leaders at NWU Mafikeng campus prepared themselves for 2016. On their publicly known demand list where the following :
-0% fee increment .
- True reflection if the Potch, vaal. Mafikeng merger .
- Ending of outsourcing.
- Zero financial exclusions for academically deserving but poor students.
In the opening weeks of January when the University prepared itself to welcome prospective undergraduate students the leadership had one demand namely "The registration of students with outstanding balances before the registration of first years".
This put a halt to the university's registration process and as an alternative measure they asked students to register online. A mistake in the eyes of many as the complaint was the accessibility of facilities to register and the capacity of students to use such a registration method. NWU management struck back by issuing an interdict to anyone who intended on disrupting the registration process and then forged ahead with registration.
Then president of the SRC Linda Benz Mabengwane(reffered to as Benz) violated the interdict by protesting against the registrations. As a result he was suspended pending disciplinary hearing and was later found guilty of 80 percent of all charges leveled against him. Benz is banned from studying for 3 years.
The university further dissolved the SRC that served with Benz and imposed an SRC formed from leaders of student substructures. Students boycotted the inauguration of the imposed SRC stating that they would rather go back to the ballot box and elect new leaders. This boycott is what brought about the violent clashes seen on media. The university's private security went on to shoot students with rubber bullets during the demonstrations. It is alleged that live ammunition was utilized. The university has denied the claims until a student who was operated on had a silver bullet lodged in her foot. The university said it will investigate.
In the eve of what is known as "Battle of the great hall" , The science center(a place with science projects to encourage High School children to pick Science careers) and the buildings above it were licked by fire. Damage caused on the 24th of February 2016 saw NWU Mafikeng close its gates for an indefinite period. Newspapers reported that Omphile "Etto" who was then the residence manager's house was torched. Etto had lost his motorbike to fire earlier when he assisted in shooting students with rubber bullets at "the battle of the great hall"
On Check Point E-News the university confirmed that the buildings that have been damaged are not directly connected to teaching and learning as only The science center, the rector's ,vice rector and the registrar's office caught fire. The university maintained that they closed their gates for the safety of students and stability.
Students have since taken to social media with the hashtag #OPENNWUMAF . Their requests to be moved to Potch and Vaal to carry on learning were declined. The university announced that it will be ready for operation on the 29 of March 2016.
To stand in solidarity with students . Veteran rapper Hip Hop Panstula whose real name is Jabulani Tsambo will be releasing a song called Pasop. He will shoot the music video outside the university and has called for students to peacefully demonstrate on the day in question. Jabulani's mother is a well respected lecturer at the university.
HHP aims to achieve peace from all parties with his music. Words have failed . Guns and stones have failed. Will HHP's music go beyond the downlaods,Facebook and Twitter?
we wait to see
*This article is does not side with any political party nor is it meant to bring the university's name in disrepute. The images and facts used are all social media content and recollections of those who were there .
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