OPINION: SA must hold a commission of inquiry into higher education costs

Dr Zakes Motene is a former student activist from the 1990s‚ a Medunsa graduate and a medical doctor at the South African Military Health Service

I am relenting under pressure to say a word or two on the ongoing debacle in our higher education institutions. This is a chronic ulcer/wound that we have been placating with ointments and emollients‚ both western and traditional‚ with no hope whatsoever of curing it once and for all. There is not a single graduate in South Africa who does not have a horror story to tell about university fees. The gradient of the horror increases exponentially the darker the colour of the skin.

In 2014‚ following similar strife‚ we begun a process to formalise an Alumni Association for the erstwhile Medical University of Southern Africa (Medunsa) now re-launched as Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU).

The Alumni have committed to establish a fund that will go some way to contributing to the development of our youth in the sphere of education. This is long overdue and clearly with the goings-on‚ we have to move even faster and encourage other middle class South African to dig into their pockets to achieve the same‚ maybe even assist a concerted national drive to mitigate the strife faced by our students.

My book “The Journey” has not helped much either as I exposed my shenanigans as a student leader during my Medunsa days. Significantly‚ during my stint as a member of the SRC in 1998/1999‚ we faced similar challenges leading University Management to take a very difficult decision of closing down the University and sending all students home.

It was a first for Medunsa‚ made even worse by the fact that we boasted as the most progressive and student friendly institution of all. We used to host students from many other Institutions around the Tshwane area‚ whose campuses would be invaded by police and the army in the dying days of apartheid and even the early years of democracy. You see‚ Medunsa was very strategically positioned‚ in that students from Setlogelo Technikon‚ which was in Bophuthatswana‚ would be safe from the nails of the homeland police if they just made it into the gates. Similarly‚ Garankuwa residents found refuge in the campus during community uprisings.

The Police knew very well that Medunsa was a no-go area. It is here that we lived the motto: “We are members of the community before we are students”.

From time to time‚ the campus would have its share of difficulties and University Management always made it known that Police were not welcome inside the safe confines especially if University property was not abused in the fight for our just demands.

With that history‚ it’s become very difficult over time to adopt any other posture but to lean on the side of students even before I understand their issues. I shudder when I think of some of what we would get up to‚ to make our demands more solid for Management. One more noble strategy was to study legislation to the letter‚ to know exactly where the loopholes were to exploit for the benefit of our students. We rummaged through the Higher Education Act and debated it widely. It was quite saddening even then that the Act had serious limitations in relation to the powers of the Minister and Government to directly intervene in matters affecting students. At the time‚ Medunsa was fighting against the lock‚ stock and barrel relocation of the Vet Faculty to University of Pretoria‚ a mistake to which South Africa might never recover. We consulted politicians widely‚ even had SRC President‚ the late Kgomotso Masebelanga addressing the Parliament of the Republic.

However‚ that’s a story for another day.

A few years later‚ we sat with Minister Kader Asmal when Medunsa was on the precipice. At the end of 1998‚ the University had adopted a very hard-line stance on students who owed fees. As we closed for the December holidays‚ the University machinery went into overdrive‚ sending students colour-coded letters regarding their financial positions with the University. Pink letters were sent to students who owed fees to inform them of their unwanted status‚ even their year’s results withheld to cement the point. In effect‚ these letters meant they were summarily financially excluded from the University.

It was the blackest Christmas in the history of our beloved institution. Despite our best efforts‚ there is still a good number of students whose careers were cut short as a result. Much as the University came to the party to understand our plight‚ concessions could not have a lasting effect as pressures of running the University escalated‚ with budget limitations from government etc. What helped most of all‚ was for the University Management to take us into their confidence as students to explain all these constraints and to further appreciate that the University could only prosper if Management and students forged a united front‚ as our interests were not exclusive of each other.

I still hail the foresight of Professors Mokgokong‚ Mogotlane‚ Masihleho and Bomela to appreciate the small role that SRC’s can play in the management of an Institution of Higher Learning.

Sadly‚ in the subsequent years we would tussle‚ sometimes very bitterly regarding these financial exclusions‚ winning in most cases but with some students loosing their battles. In one bitter row‚ we held placards promising ‘yizo-yizo’ style attacks on then Principal Professor Mogotlane. Fortunately‚ over time we found each other and understood the ‘promised attack’ in context. We have long since kissed and made up.

It has been most saddening to learn that the situations have gotten even worse over the past 15 years.

Everyone of us has a tolerance limit for ‘cow-dung’ and I have certainly reached mine. Indeed‚ like many South Africans‚ I am enraged at the current state of affairs but still trying to critically make an analysis as an emotional take at matters only results in undesirable consequences.

Let me hasten to say that the students at tertiary institutions are right in their quest for a fairer franchise in pursuit of academic excellence in the hope to guarantee a better future.

It is just sad that this happened when students have been working tirelessly in libraries preparing for their examinations. I would like to believe that it is only a coincidence that Universities published notices of fee increments at such a critical time. I know from my times as a student that some reviews in Institutions of higher learning happen mainly after SRC elections which in most varsities begin in September.

That said‚ Wits in particular went for the jugular. How will they justify a double-digit increase at such an economically sensitive time for our country‚ when even suggestions of a recession are a daily discussion. Every average South African has had to grapple with economic jargon since the world recession in 2008. More recently‚ the behaviour of our currency forces all and sundry to understand broadly that we are not in paradise and the economic outlook is no better in the medium term.

Even a pre-school child would agree that the figures bandied about are way above what most people would deem fair. Shouldn’t the approach at this stage be a below inflation increase‚ if any? Prior to this happening‚ the Department of Higher Education has been working on hosting a Higher Education Summit‚ a big hope for some of us. In that‚ being only the second summit‚ the first was five years ago‚ it would have an even better view and take better decisions based on the five year experience to drive the country in a desirable path. The past 5 years have not been easy at all for the department and the Minister in particular. Apart from having to contend with the constraints of incumbency‚ Minister Nzimande has had a tough run. So glaring has been his silence living by the adage ‘monna nku o llela teng’‚ loosely translated as “a man should only cry silently”.

I have been cringing for the time that the Minister will take the nation into confidence regarding the problems of Higher Education in South Africa. Quiet diplomacy has failed and drastic and open measures are therefore necessary.

I hope the curious timing of Wits was intended at nudging the Minister and the Summit to reach seriously critical decisions regarding funding of the sector. Prof Adam Habib is a patriot‚ and would never be careless in bringing the country to a standstill‚ on the verge of examinations. I believe it to be so. Especially‚ after the way I saw him on television two weeks ago standing shoulder to shoulder with the President following what was termed a fruitful engagement between the President and University Vice-Chancellors and Councils.

The entrapment of incumbency must be totally suffocating for the firebrand Minister. I still remember how excited some of us were when he was announced as the Minister of the brand new department following the elections in 2009. Even more‚ that his deputy was a young leader who had his hand on the pulse of tertiary education in SA‚ having himself been a student not too distantly. Alas‚ the restrictions of incumbency.

It must be very painful for you to even suggest an inflation linked increment. I would like to believe that you would have rather wished for an inflation linked decrease instead. Again it’s the sad reality of the entrapment of incumbency.

I hope you do not feel emasculated as every cloud has a silver lining. I hope you we can all appreciate the golden opportunity that this ‘crisis’ presents. I believe by now you appreciate dear Minister that it’s indeed a national crisis?

I am one of the few people who have read every single word of the ‘Higher Education Act’. Some of our adopted legislative frameworks are very limiting and this one in particular even more so‚ especially as we view the Minister as the custodian of higher education in South Africa. I hope you have long instituted a review of certain of its prescripts.

However‚ the thrust of what I need you to take home from this diatribe‚ is that a golden opportunity is sitting on your lap for a commission of inquiry to once and for all deal with all matters of higher education for the future benefit of our young democracy.

Lay everything bare in terms of institutional finances. You will find a clever way of invoking higher powers to consider such a move.

Be remembered as the Minister who really shook the tree to not only let dying leaves fall‚ but to get rid of the small hairy predators lurking between the branches. Shake so hard that the roots themselves feel the need to grasp the ground much firmer for a solid foundation.

The result will be a much firmer rooted tree that will truly bear sweet fruits of educational freedom for the millions still to be enrolled in the future.

Professor Habib and all University Managements will definitely cooperate with you on this one. A starting point would be a freeze (-0% increase) for this immediate term.

Of all the things that are seemingly going wrong with our country‚ let us use every ounce of energy we have to ensure that the pursuit of academic excellence especially by our young people should never be counted among them.

To our dear brothers and sisters in the Police Force‚ be very careful of being used as pawns in a dirty chess game. Some of the images coming through of students being ‘donnered’ are not inspiring any confidence.

Your ‘skop hard and dik donner’ approach to conflict situations is so last decade.

I have had the rare pleasure of working closely with dedicated members of the force‚ in fact‚ I could have assisted your very recruitment to the service way back in 2008 prior to the world cup.

I know many of you are highly committed to the prosperity of our country to the extent that you ‘soldier’ on despite meagre wages.

It’s a sad reality that an average officer as most public servants‚ will never afford to take their children to University in the country you serve so proudly.

Our dear students‚ you have my unwavering support and I speak for many more South Africans. I just wish the timing was different but I suppose a recovery plan is already being considered. Burn the midnight oil with your books when night falls. Soldier on but most importantly‚ stay safe.

I pause.