South Africa’s youth are making a statement throughout the country with regards to the cost of tertiary education.
The Congress of South African Schools (Cosas) staged a gathering and a march to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on 30 September. A mixture of school pupils and university students gathered at George Lea Park south in the hopes that their message would make an impact.
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Noxolo Makhanya, of Cosas, was part of the gathering and she explained that she knows all too well how difficult it is to pay for university fees. “The reason we are here today is we want to march to the JSE and demand that at least R1 billion goes towards giving students a tertiary education.
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“Many members of Cosas cannot pay university fees; they do not even have the money to pay the R250 registration fee because they are from child-headed households. That R250 is their food money for the whole month.”
When asked how the matric pupils managed to get a day off school so close to the final examinations, Makhanya explained that the organisation followed the correct procedure. “We talked to the school headmasters and sent out letters to them to join because we really do not want to disturb education. The matric pupils worked extra yesterday (29 September) and will catch up work on Monday, 3 October,” she said.
The demonstration occurred during the #feesmustfall protests at universities. She explained that the Cosas group support this initiative but stressed that a large majority of the attendees on 30 September were matric pupils, not university students. Therefore, their focus was not only on #feesmustfall but also on getting underprivileged school pupils into universities.
Makhanya highlighted, “We don’t want university students to go hungry just so they can pay their university fees.”
According to Lieutenant Colonel Andre de Klerk, the demonstration was peaceful. “The students have gathered at George Lea Park south but they have not marched as of yet (approximately 12 noon). Saps will be present and will be following them throughout the march. We are not expecting any problems.
“Please note that there appears to be a heavy police presence with vehicles and horses but this is only because there is a CoP17 summit at the same location,” advised De Klerk.
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