Ex-ANCYL leaders call for increased funding of higher education

A group speaking on behalf of former ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leaders on Thursday threw their support behind protests by students at Wits University calling for historical debt to be scrapped.

The group have called on the government to intervene in the protests and ensure students are not denied their right to education.

This comes after students protested for the second day on Wednesday at Wits University in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, against financial exclusion.

Police have been accused of heavy-handedness in their response to the protest after a 35-year-old bystander was shot and killed, allegedly by the police.

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The spokesperson for the group of former ANCYL leaders, Abner Mosaase, told The Citizen they want the government to consider increasing funds for higher education.

He said they would not stand by when disadvantaged students were being excluded from institutions of higher learning because they could not afford to pay their fees.

“We are asking that the government must consider increasing funds for higher education as a critical component of the economy of the country. We think it was a mistake for the government to cut expenditure on higher education. We must actually review that and fund higher education as a critical component of developing our country,” Mosaase said.

Mosaase said education was a right and not a privilege.

“It is the responsibility of the sitting government under the leadership of the ANC to must make sure that there’s not even a single student sent home because of their unfortunate financial situation,” he said in a statement issued by the group.

“It is the ANC manifesto of 1994 which stipulated that education shall be free for all and this was taken from the Freedom Charter that the doors of leaning and culture shall be opened for all.”

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Mosaase condemned the response by police to student protests and called on Police Minister Bheki Cele to direct members of the police to exercise restraint and refrain from “brutalising unarmed and peaceful student protests on campuses”.

He said the former ANC YL leaders would fight side by side with students to make sure free education is realised.

“We think that our government and the police must start orientating and retraining the police to respond to protest matters adequately. Our method of responding to protests is backward and reminiscent of the days of apartheid. They should have a fact finding mission and learn from the developed world what happens when there are protests of this nature,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that the police have applied maximum force against unarmed and defenceless students.”

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