×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

#FeesMustFall research report stirs gender debate

#FeesMustFall protest. Picture Credit: Abigail Javier
#FeesMustFall protest. Picture Credit: Abigail Javier

A research report on student protests‚ published by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation‚ has stirred up a painful debate around gender and the #FeesMustFall movement.

The report‚ titled #Hashtag: An analysis of the #FeesMustFall Movement at South African universities‚ was launched on Thursday at a public seminar at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg.

The report carries research on the experiences of students at nine universities and reflects on #FeesMustFall violence‚ for which police carried much of the blame.

“Overall‚ the report shows that violence increased when the police were called and stationed within university grounds‚” the findings said.

It also raised questions around why student protests – which are not new in post-apartheid South Africa – only recently caught the imagination of the public‚ when they played out at historically white universities in 2015 and 2016.

Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) executive director Nomfundo Mogapi said she was excited about the project‚ which drew on the voices on students.

“It is the people at the core of the experience that can articulate their experiences better. So their narrative is very important. For me it is very exciting that it is actually the students themselves who have done the research.

But in a heated panel discussion‚ it became clear that not all students felt they were well represented by the report.

Activist Thenjiwe Mswane questioned why the report dealt with issues of violence and blackness‚ but failed to adequately address gender.

She also said that in her view the report’s narrative showed that those‚ “closest to whiteness became knowers‚” or producers of knowledge.

“It’s painful for us to come here and be spoken about. Erased‚ and then spoken about.

“Can we be careful about how we speak about people’s lived experiences? Our lives are not for research. Our lives are not for data.”

Fallist and Wits University student Ntokozo Moloi said sexual violence in student protests must be addressed.

“When black women [at Rhodes University] organised under the RU Reference List the judiciary stopped them from mobilising. Would you then as a woman go back to that court for justice?”

In April last year the #RUReferencelist‚ containing the names of 11 alleged rapists at Rhodes University‚ were published on social media platforms‚ and followed by protests and a shutdown of the university. The university applied for an interim court order against protesting students.

The report also criticised universities for communicating poorly with students and instead turning to the courts for protection orders to quash protests.

Among the key recommendations made by the CSVR is the need for peace and reconciliation initiatives to mend broken relations between students and universities.

“It appears that some universities are highly polarised since the protests. Genuine dialogues between university management‚ staff and students need to take place to ensure that existing hostilities are resolved.” — TMG Digital

 

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.