when reason leaves the building
by：Marslite
2019-09-07
Last weekend, with all the important stakeholders in higher education coming together to discuss ways to address the industry\'s ongoing challenges, a historic event will take place.
The meeting will be held at the Eskom Advanced Learning Centre in Midland, convened by former deputy chief justice dickegan morsenk, as well as a number of other elders and respected figures, such as writers and experts of the African indigenous knowledge system, former Justice Yvonne Mokgoro
Pitica entuli, former President Nelson Mandela and founding secretary-general of Cosatu, businessman and chairman of Telkom SA, Jabu Mabuza and secretary-general of the Church Council of South Africa, to name just a few, bishop maluci mwangna.
Few know that this forum has played an important role in easing campus tensions through highly sensitive talks with student leaders, university management and the government, including President Jacob Zuma.
It was in the darkest hour of our country that some of the most respected members of our society came together and said, \"That\'s enough. Enough now.
We need to talk.
\"In the months following the end of the violence, the Forum worked with stakeholders to prepare for the event to peak last weekend.
Provincial meetings were held in all nine provinces and each possible student organization was included.
So when the lawsuit started on Saturday morning, everyone was on board.
From the vice president of the university to the dean of the students, the representative of SRC, the organization of the students, including each political faction, the parents, the government, the minister of higher education Blade Nzimande, the representative of the church, the meeting was attended by the Human Rights Commission, the South African Bureau of Statistics, the national prosecution service, the public protector\'s office, the banking and commercial sectors, and the Electoral Commission.
Everyone agrees with the collective task: to use the security space created to debate and negotiate what is necessary for the country to move forward and for the survival of the higher education sector.
Everyone can speak and express their views. everyone\'s opinions will be valued and considered.
As Moseneke said, who is the leader of higher education.
So when angry students disrupt the conference before the start of the conference, it\'s very disappointing to see the highly sensitive behind-the-scenes work that has gone away for months.
The plenary was just beginning, and the students started shouting, booing every time they mentioned Nzimande\'s name, asking the White to leave, and threatening to set the venue on fire.
At the end of the game, the chairs flew up, water bottles were thrown at people, and sound and lighting equipment were knocked down.
The deputy prime minister ran away for safety and the minister\'s security team had to rush him out.
Despite Moseneke\'s call for calm, discipline and respect, there seems to be nothing to help the students, and nothing is unrestricted when reason leaves the building.
Student leaders begged their faction to allow everyone the opportunity to speak as agreed before the event, but failed.
As the proceedings began, the rest of the crowd sat helplessly watching.
Finally, the convention was canceled for security reasons.
Some students who took a 15-hour bus ride from East Cape Province collected their sponsored lunch bags and went to the bus.
Later, the responsibility for who was responsible for the chaos was transferred.
Different political factions blame each other.
I personally saw a small group of EFF students refusing to calm down when Nzimande started speaking, eventually breaking through the barriers formed by the usher charging the stage where he spoke.
Whether it is a mob mentality or a plan to deliberately undermine the proceedings, it is undeniable that a golden opportunity is wasted by bad discipline and does not respect others at all, no consideration was given to all efforts by stakeholders to reach a solution.
Angry students claim they are tired of listening to the same conversation without finding a solution, but why do they agree to the format of the convention?
Why not resist?
Why come all the way just to ruin the exercise?
My feeling is that the forest where students can\'t see the trees is a chronic disease;
They are troubled by the smallest problems and they don\'t know how to choose their battles.
Every problem in the industry can\'t be solved overnight, but they refuse to accept it.
It seems that the plight of students is the only important problem in our country.
Despite these achievements, their innocence in their youth has disappointed them in this regard.
Maybe the convener should have foresight to know that the students can\'t see Adam Habib, or that the appearance of Nzimande will leave them completely.
They have good intentions to bring them there, but in the end we may not have seen the full extent of the disaster.
Let\'s hope that the weekend violence will not spread to the campus, as students build momentum to restart the FeesMustFall campaign. -
Janse van Rensburg is the opinion editor of News 24.
Statement: News 24 encourages freedom of expression and different views.
Therefore, the views of the columnist published on News 24 are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News 24.
The meeting will be held at the Eskom Advanced Learning Centre in Midland, convened by former deputy chief justice dickegan morsenk, as well as a number of other elders and respected figures, such as writers and experts of the African indigenous knowledge system, former Justice Yvonne Mokgoro
Pitica entuli, former President Nelson Mandela and founding secretary-general of Cosatu, businessman and chairman of Telkom SA, Jabu Mabuza and secretary-general of the Church Council of South Africa, to name just a few, bishop maluci mwangna.
Few know that this forum has played an important role in easing campus tensions through highly sensitive talks with student leaders, university management and the government, including President Jacob Zuma.
It was in the darkest hour of our country that some of the most respected members of our society came together and said, \"That\'s enough. Enough now.
We need to talk.
\"In the months following the end of the violence, the Forum worked with stakeholders to prepare for the event to peak last weekend.
Provincial meetings were held in all nine provinces and each possible student organization was included.
So when the lawsuit started on Saturday morning, everyone was on board.
From the vice president of the university to the dean of the students, the representative of SRC, the organization of the students, including each political faction, the parents, the government, the minister of higher education Blade Nzimande, the representative of the church, the meeting was attended by the Human Rights Commission, the South African Bureau of Statistics, the national prosecution service, the public protector\'s office, the banking and commercial sectors, and the Electoral Commission.
Everyone agrees with the collective task: to use the security space created to debate and negotiate what is necessary for the country to move forward and for the survival of the higher education sector.
Everyone can speak and express their views. everyone\'s opinions will be valued and considered.
As Moseneke said, who is the leader of higher education.
So when angry students disrupt the conference before the start of the conference, it\'s very disappointing to see the highly sensitive behind-the-scenes work that has gone away for months.
The plenary was just beginning, and the students started shouting, booing every time they mentioned Nzimande\'s name, asking the White to leave, and threatening to set the venue on fire.
At the end of the game, the chairs flew up, water bottles were thrown at people, and sound and lighting equipment were knocked down.
The deputy prime minister ran away for safety and the minister\'s security team had to rush him out.
Despite Moseneke\'s call for calm, discipline and respect, there seems to be nothing to help the students, and nothing is unrestricted when reason leaves the building.
Student leaders begged their faction to allow everyone the opportunity to speak as agreed before the event, but failed.
As the proceedings began, the rest of the crowd sat helplessly watching.
Finally, the convention was canceled for security reasons.
Some students who took a 15-hour bus ride from East Cape Province collected their sponsored lunch bags and went to the bus.
Later, the responsibility for who was responsible for the chaos was transferred.
Different political factions blame each other.
I personally saw a small group of EFF students refusing to calm down when Nzimande started speaking, eventually breaking through the barriers formed by the usher charging the stage where he spoke.
Whether it is a mob mentality or a plan to deliberately undermine the proceedings, it is undeniable that a golden opportunity is wasted by bad discipline and does not respect others at all, no consideration was given to all efforts by stakeholders to reach a solution.
Angry students claim they are tired of listening to the same conversation without finding a solution, but why do they agree to the format of the convention?
Why not resist?
Why come all the way just to ruin the exercise?
My feeling is that the forest where students can\'t see the trees is a chronic disease;
They are troubled by the smallest problems and they don\'t know how to choose their battles.
Every problem in the industry can\'t be solved overnight, but they refuse to accept it.
It seems that the plight of students is the only important problem in our country.
Despite these achievements, their innocence in their youth has disappointed them in this regard.
Maybe the convener should have foresight to know that the students can\'t see Adam Habib, or that the appearance of Nzimande will leave them completely.
They have good intentions to bring them there, but in the end we may not have seen the full extent of the disaster.
Let\'s hope that the weekend violence will not spread to the campus, as students build momentum to restart the FeesMustFall campaign. -
Janse van Rensburg is the opinion editor of News 24.
Statement: News 24 encourages freedom of expression and different views.
Therefore, the views of the columnist published on News 24 are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News 24.
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