Johannesburg – The South African Union of Students (SAUS) and other youth formations on Friday marched to the the Chamber of Mines to press for education funding.
The “national free education march” which was supposed to start at 10am from Beyers Naude Square in central Johannesburg got off to a slow start as students union members sat waiting for more protesters to join them from different pick-up points.
The aim of the march is to lobby private sector institutions including the Chamber of Mines, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and banks to fund education.
Alex Mdakane, the provincial secretary of the Young Communist League in Gauteng, said the private sector had a bigger role to play in funding education. He said the private sector derives more benefits when it employs university graduates.
“A large chunk of funds needs to come from the private sector as it is the biggest beneficiary of graduates who graduate through NSFAS loans,” Mdakane said.
“Currently, the South African business sector is sitting on more R1 trillion in excess funds that is not being reinvested back to the mainstream economy nor the call for free education.”
Students at public universities have been protesting for four weeks demanding free education under #FeesMustFall campaign.
Mdakane implored protesting students from different state universities, including students from the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), to refrain from destroying buildings and property.
Mdakane also warned protesting students against attacking police officers. They should focus on achieving free, compulsory and quality education.
“Our demands include the call for private sector to fund ‘free education’ and they need a law to review the funding model. We want the private sector and other institutions including SOEs to play a bigger role in funding ‘free education’,” Mdakane said.
“We also want the office of the Auditor General to quantify bursaries as this will allow them to know how much the bursaries are worth, and thereafter use that amount to fund free education.”
Mdakane said the Chamber of Mines had a maximum of 14 days to respond to their memorandum of demands.
“We demand written response, failing which we will come to the Chamber of Mines,” Mdakane said.
On Thursday, the Chamber of Mines invited the leaders of Wits Students Representative Council (SRC) to meet with them to discuss a memorandum they delivered two weeks ago.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Youth Structure also joined the march.
Sabelo Mgotywa, the national secretary of the NUM youth structure, said they wanted the mining industry to fund education.
“We are of a firm believe that those who own the means of production should take responsibility to funding higher education as they own the country’s economy and they are the most beneficiaries of our education,” Mgotywa said.
African News Agency