Local resident backs #FeesMustFall campaign
The #FeesMustFall campaign, that has gripped the country in the past few weeks, is a significant moment in our country's history, according to Crystal Park resident Chrispin Phiri.
Phiri, who read towards a law degree at the University of the Western Cape, was elected Student Representative Council (SRC) president at the institution for 2011/12.
The 26-year-old told the City Times he attempted to enrol at Rhodes University in 2008, but, as his mother was a single parent, she could not afford the fees.
“I was too ‘rich’ to qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), so I decided to attend a ‘cheaper’ university and changed my career choice in that transition,” said Phiri.
“Ironically, at the University of the Western Cape, I qualified for NSFAS in my first year, while, at the university currently known as Rhodes, this was not the case.
“I am not sure why, but maybe this can be attributed to institutional autonomy.”
He said some institutions choose to project themselves as competing with the best in the world.
Phiri said that, due to this projection, they increase fees to promote the idea that you have to pay more for the best.
The lawyer praised the #FeesMustFall campaign.
“One must point out that this movement is not just about the fees, this is an intersectional movement,” he said.
“It wants to confront the edifice of our democracy, it challenges the lack of systemic transformation in the post-apartheid society.
“One of the strategies to confront issues like white privilege, patriarchy and the lingering remnants of apartheid South Africa, is to liberate the minds of the oppressed (yes, black people, especially women are still oppressed), which is achieved by de-commodifying education.”
He said government needs to introduce free undergraduate tertiary education.
“[The #FeesMustFall campaign] has achieved, it has placed free education at the centre of the fiscal allocation,” said Phiri.
“The question of where the money must come from confronts the government.”
He added that government should consider privatising half on the inefficient parastals and use the annual revenue from that to directly fund free education.
Government has announced a nought per cent increase at universities next year.
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