I’m sure there are a great deal of you out there who enjoyed a braai on Heritage Day, which unfortunately fell on a Saturday this year and denied us all an extra day off work.

I’m also sure there were a number of conversations repeated around the country – what’s wrong with the Boks, why do people care about Brangelina so much – you know the drill.

At some point someone might have brought up the #FeesMustFall movement, and depending on who your braai buddies are opinions would have varied greatly.

Over at the Rand Daily Mail is a chap called Justice Malala, who has become one of the more celebrated political analysts the country has to offer. I’m not saying your fireside rant was ill-informed, but Justice might bring a more rounded opinion to the table.

Hit it:

The truth is that a small, radical, violent elite is intimidating everyone else into silence. Legitimate student struggles — lack of access and funds — have been hijacked by this small minority to wreak havoc at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where a library was burnt down, and other places…

There is now no institution which has not seen infrastructure burnt down, looting and harassment on a grand scale. Those who hold a view contrary to that of this minority are intimidated into silence…

Case in point this from IOL, a WhatsApp message sent out to all UKZN Pietermaritzburg campus students:

The message read: “Please be warned that if you are seen on campus with a bag or books from Monday to Friday you will be dealt with. We advise you to strike with us or be against us… those who are against will be dealt with”…

“We are so scared,” said an anxious student. “Burning things down is not going to help. Who is going to help us rebuild? This whole protest has just gone from bad to worse. The cause is lost.”

Anyway, back to Justice Malala:

We cannot be for the burning of university libraries and science laboratories while we claim to be for education. We cannot be for progress while we glorify violent, sexist, backward behaviour. We cannot be for our children and yet keep silent or applaud as their future goes up in flames.

It is time to stop this in its tracks. It is time for government to support the vice-chancellors. It is time for student activists to isolate these violent elements. It is time for the police to enforce the law — identify, arrest and prosecute those who break the law. It is time to acknowledge that not all within this movement is right and upstanding, that it has a streak and factions that undermine everything that it stands for.

It might be fashionable to justify some of the things that are happening within the #FeesMustFall movement. But the truth is that a non-elected minority (these are people who are not in the student representative councils, for example) is holding our children, our future, hostage.

The heroes are not those who shout loudest today and shut down those they disagree with. Our heroes, when we look back at this period, must be those who stand up now and say in this democracy there are legitimate spaces for engagement and we must use them with responsibility and care. We need to talk, not burn. We need to find solutions, not try to be rebels without a cause.

It seems to me that many people write off the #FeesMustFall movement on the back of this violent minority, with all of their demands deemed irrational as a result.

The destruction, the burning, the disruptions – these need to be dealt with, as Malala makes clear, because at its (increasingly shrinking and overshadowed) core is something that really may leave a lasting legacy for generations to come.

Who knows how those 20 years down the line will look back at all this, but if the violent elite is left to hold the rest of our students hostage it may not be with too much fondness.

[sources:rdm&iol]

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