Dear Zuma, white people haven’t made us angry this time. You have | The South African

The FeesMustFall movement culminated in a mass gathering of students and civil society – around 10 000 people – in front of the Union Buildings to hear Zuma speak.Alas, as we’ve become accustomed to, Zuma was a no-show and instead chose to address the students from inside the Union Buildings, not only a sign of weakness, but fear most of all.Sure, the fees have fallen, but the aftermath of the mass movement leaves South Africans with renewed hope and a reminder that our people are indeed powerful; and perhaps most important of all, South Africans have come together for the first time in many years, rekindling the spirit of greats like Sisulu, Hani, Slovo and of course Mandela.One of the protesters present at the Union Buildings last week wrote a letter to Zuma, sharing his feelings and that of so many others with the public and, of course, the president-in-hiding. Dear President Zuma I was told you would address us at noon. Some of us were naïve enough to think that you would really come. We are always full of hope. But you didn’t come. When a decision was made you wouldn’t even come and talk to us in person. Instead, you spoke from an air-conditioned room and told the media what us students had the right to hear. Did the media make the demands for fees to fall, or did the students? I’m now convinced more than ever that you do not care about young people in this country. Did you learn nothing from 1976? Young people will not be mocked. Unlike our parents, we have nothing to lose. We see you, Mr President. We see you make a mockery of the constitution. We see you squander the resources of this country. You forget that the young people you treat with contempt are the people who will vote next year and at the next general election. Many of them might join the Economic Freedom Fighters or the Democratic Alliance. Your party will continue to lose power not because there are better options, but because young voters (who will soon be the majority of voters) are fed up with the ANC. We don’t have to show loyalty to the party our parents voted for. There’s a new generation coming and they are angrier than before. Unlike your generation, white people haven’t made them angry. You have. The ANC has made them angry. You have discredited everything that was possible in 1994. Under your leadership a culture of corruption has found a place in South Africa’s government. The born-frees are tired of hearing about how great the ANC used to be. To them that’s as good as a myth, and myths mean nothing to people who are hoping for a better future. It’s really a pity you didn’t address the students on Friday. The students gave you an opportunity to redeem yourself in their eyes. They gave you an opportunity to take yourself and your office seriously, but in true Zuma-style you turned it down. It’s unfortunate too that you don’t take education seriously. You have let South Africans believe that you do not take education seriously because you are not educated. I would like to think that as someone who could not complete an education because you chose the struggle [against apartheid], you know better than anyone else the importance of education. Do educated people threaten you? You could have chosen to create an education system that you can be proud of. Instead you became a cliché and built yourself a mansion. You and the ANC are not invincible. Kind regards, Athambile MasolaThis letter was originally published by the Guardian via the Mail&Guardian

Source: Dear Zuma, white people haven’t made us angry this time. You have | The South African

#FeesMustFall shows ‘born-free’ generation anything but apathetic | Thought Leader

#FeesMustFall shows ‘born-free’ generation anything but apatheticDefiant. An apt word to describe students protesting against university tuition fees over the last month. From bringing institutions to a standstill, to engaging in several hour-long meetings, disgruntled students have been unwavering in their pursuit of what they see as a fairer financial system for universities.And it went up a notch yesterday when protesting students stormed the parliament building in Cape Town. They stood firmly, face-to-face with riot police. They were seemingly unintimidated, in spite of the force letting off tear gas, and roughing up some students.Unafraid they continued to get right up to the riot squad, sometimes even performing gestures that said “go on, arrest me”.Wits students protest fee increase. (M&G)Wits students protest fee increase. (M&G)A brave, non-violent confrontation from the “born-free” generation, who are often derided as being too comfortable, apathetic, and lazy.Much like their calls for transformation at universities earlier this year, the protest against fee increase shows that this generation of young people are more willing to actually address problems than arguably any other in post-apartheid South Africa.Through the issue over fees, we are seeing a selection of people — across race and class lines — throughout the country united via a common purpose through shared disgruntlement, powered through sheer resoluteness, putting themselves in the firing line, and trying to bring about social change.What’s more is that, behind the rawness seen in the fees protest, there is a profound understanding of South African society. The campaigns this year calling for transformation of campuses through demolishing certain historical symbols in universities demonstrate an understanding of regressive politics and their presence today. This generation’s young people are equipped with a fine balance of brashness and brains, the two resulting in the studied chaos of these protests.There is little more heartening than seeing young people fully aware of their position within a country plagued with problems, possessing the bravery to question what needs questioning, and, importantly, following through with action.Obviously this doesn’t describe 100% of young people — a hefty portion of them seeing the protests as pointless. Luckily, though, they are not the ones making the most noise.The protest action surrounding fees provides a sort of assurance that there is still an ongoing fight against South Africa’s numerous social problems. The forceful mob breaking through the gates of Parliament shows a determined, switched-on, intelligent youth. There are no finger-pointing blame games with this lot: they see themselves as the agents of change. They are forcing the conversation, making all attempts to begin defining South Africa’s future.

Source: #FeesMustFall shows ‘born-free’ generation anything but apathetic | Thought Leader

‘Listen up, fat cats’ – Times LIVE

Inside the National Assembly, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene continued delivering his medium-term budget policy statement, as if in another world.Earlier, members of the Economic Freedom Fighters party had petitioned the house to postpone the mini-budget speech until the matter of university fees had been resolved, but MPs voted that the speech should go ahead. EFF members were evicted from the House after chanting “Fees must fall” as Nene began speaking.The decision to continue was slammed by commentators.”This government would rather continue with ‘business as usual’ than address this very burning issue,” said political analyst Mzoxolo Mpolase. “This is worrying as it has to do with rising social expectations against an economy that is unable to deliver on those expectations, coupled with a government that certainly cannot deliver on those expectations.”UCT political sociologist Ruth Chaturvedi said the ANC government had completely lost touch with reality and the country, with South Africa now at a precipice.”The fee issue is part of a bigger condition – an issue of equality. The students, through their demands, are highlighting everything that is coming undone in the country as a whole.”She said the government dared not continue to ignore the issues being raised by citizens. “The question now is what will it take for the government to finally listen. They have not been listening to these issues, especially those around tuition fees, which are not new. They were raised in the first decade of democracy and then again in 2003 in the historically black universities. Now they are again being raised, but this time in historically white universities.”Yesterday, the multi-racial group of students outside parliament sang the national anthem. After students stormed the parliamentary precinct, police charged and fired tear gas and stun grenades on them in scenes reminiscent of the 1980s. A stun grenade was fired over the bronze bust of Nelson Mandela.”Whites to the front! They won’t shoot you!” was the cry as the police began taking action.Several students were arrested and injured. Sherrylle Dass of the Equal Education Law Centre confirmed late last night that 23 students were being held in cells in Cape Town and six in Bellville.Arrangements for emergency bail were being made.A group of concerned parents also approached the high court for an interdict against the police. The matter will be heard today.Among the arrested students was Kgosi Chikane, son of the Reverend Frank Chikane, a former secretary to the cabinet, Ilan Price, son of UCT vice-chancellor Max Price, and Markus Trengove, advocate Wim Trengove’s son.Students protested on several campuses around the country.Those at Stellenbosch University vowed to continue disrupting classes until proposed increases were scrapped. At the University of the Western Cape, classes were suspended and students slammed the university’s proposal to hike prices for residence accommodation.There were protests also at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Pretoria.On Tuesday, police and several government departments initiated national and provincial joint operation command structures to deal with the protests.The finance minister did not make any mention of the chaos unfolding outside, nor did he allocate extra money to universities to fund Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s undertaking that student fee rises would be pegged at 6% next year.Instead, Nene said he had met Nzimande to discuss the establishment of an intergovernmental team to find a sustainable solution to education funding.At the end of yesterday’s speech, DA leader Mmusi Maimane asked President Jacob Zuma and Nzimande to address the students “as leadership is required”.Nzimande smiled and laughed at the request. But Zuma remained seated, ashen faced, in his presidential chair.Outside, students demanded to be addressed by Nzimande, but when he appeared he battled to make himself heard.Asked what he was trying to tell the students, Nzimande said: “I was trying to talk about yesterday’s discussion with vice- chancellors.”EFF chief whip Floyd Shivambu said the immediate solution to the crisis was to call for a special sitting of parliament to approve a special appropriation bill to deal with education funding.

Source: ‘Listen up, fat cats’ – Times LIVE

Chikane stands behind his son after his arrest in parliament protest – Times LIVE

The ANC veteran took a philosophical approach in reacting. He says while Kgotsi wasn’t necessarily poor, the campaign was about the millions of poor black South Africans who couldn’t afford university fees.”He is an extra ordinary thinker,” he said of his son, who is a Public Policy postgraduate student at the University of Cape Town.His father was one of the anti-apartheid activists who faced a year-long treason trial and incarceration during Apartheid.”I said to my own mother at the time, it had to be some mother’s child who has to provide leadership.”Kgotsi is one of the six protesters, now dubbed the Belville 6, who might be slapped with treason charges under the National Key Points Act. One of their lawyers was on live radio this morning saying that he had been informed they would be charged with treason.The Office of the National Commissioner of Police this morning, however, denied that students arrested “following the mayhem at Parliament” would be charged with treason.A terse statement said: “During the illegal protest which saw students forcing their way into the Parliament premises‚ six students were arrested and were detained at Cape Town police station. They will appear before the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday‚ facing charges of trespassing and contravening the Gatherings Act”.

Source: Chikane stands behind his son after his arrest in parliament protest – Times LIVE

Six wasted expenditures in South Africa which could have been used for free education

Students who are demanding #FeesMustFall and who are fighting for free education are repeatedly being told that “there is no budget”. There would be – and can be – if only money wasn’t so freely wasted. The movement has evolved to include #ANCMustFall and when looking at some of the biggest wasted expenditures over the last few years, it’s clear to see why citizens are demanding the country’s leaders are being held accountable.

Source: Six wasted expenditures in South Africa which could have been used for free education

Protesters march against corruption for second time in two weeks – Times LIVE

The marchers were led by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA and expelled Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.COPE’s Mosiuoa Lekota also supported the march, the second against corruption in two weeks.Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim told agitated marchers that citizens were tired of corruption.Vavi said the ruling elite was eating without thinking of the masses. “Enough is enough. Their stomachs and necks are continuously increasing while 13 million of our people go to bed every night without anything to eat.”According to the United Against Corruption campaign, the country has lost at least R700-billion in corruption in the past 20 years.

Source: Protesters march against corruption for second time in two weeks – Times LIVE

Marches a sign that country is mobilising against corruption – Times LIVE

It was encouraging to see people from all walks of life braving the discomforts of the weather to express their disgust at corruption and to demand of our leaders that they act decisively against it.Billions of rands are lost to corruption every year in both the public and the private sectors.It is about time we stood on the side of those who want progress and clean governance.Apologists for corrupt politicians, and their fellow travellers in the private sector, might want to dismiss those who took part in the marches as counter-revolutionaries but the truth of the matter is that this nation cannot afford to fold its arms while its resources are being plundered with impunity.The sense of purpose exhibited during yesterday’s marches should be replicated in our communities

Source: Marches a sign that country is mobilising against corruption – Times LIVE

Unite Against Corruption a bold statement by people of SA: Madonsela – Times LIVE

She was one of the users who helped the hashtag trend on Twitter ahead of the marches that she will ‏culminate at Parliament and the Union Buildings.“As I said in my address at the #BrickChambers Conference in London on Mon September 28‚the #MarchAgainstCorruption is not against government‚” Madonsela tweeted.“The #MarchAgainstCorruption is a bold statement by the people of South Africa‚ united in saying #NoToCorruption‚ that #ItStopsRightNow.”More than 350 organisations’ said they would be participating in the march‚ which Unite Against Corruption organisers hoped would see “one of the biggest rallies South Africa has seen in 20 years”.Hitachi case one of the reasons ANC isn’t marching against corruption: CopeThe Congress of the People noted Wednesday’s Unite Against Corruption protest action by saying: “The news of the $19-million fine that Hitachi is paying in the USA comes a moment not too soon.”“Within hours‚ hundreds of organisations will march‚ either to Parliament or to the Union Buildings‚ to demonstrate their utter condemnation of the escalating corruption afflicting South Africa‚” said Cope’s Dennis Bloem. The African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partners‚ he said‚ will be conspicuous by its absence from the marches.“By staying out‚ they will strengthen the widely held public view that it is indeed the ruling party that is both harbouring and benefitting from corruption‚” said Bloem.“If Hitachi had no case to answer‚ it will certainly not have volunteered to pay a fine of that magnitude. The cat is out of the bag.”It emerged earlier this week that the Japanese conglomerate paid ANC front company Chancellor House a $1m “success fee” and $5m in “dividends” in connection with contracts to build the Medupi and Kusile power stations.The US Securities and Exchange Commission charged said Hitachi had agreed to pay $19m to settle the charges‚ without admitting or denying the allegations.It would be permanently enjoined from future violations. The settlement is subject to court approval.Chancellor House was‚ until last year‚ empowerment partner of Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Power Africa‚ in which it was a 25% shareholder. In 2007‚ the company won Eskom contracts valued at R38bn at the time.“There is no doubt that the ruling party has been dishing out lucrative contracts to Hitachi and a host of other companies in exchange for huge donations to itself‚” said Bloem.“That is why the ruling party is so strongly and adamantly opposed to the introduction of any legislation that will make disclosure of party funding mandatory. They will not do it because they simply cannot do it. “ Bloem said society “has had enough of corruption from both the public and the private sector”.“The march today is the beginning of a new challenge to a government that does not believe in transparency‚ accountability or rule of law.“Today’s march comes on top of the hundreds of protests by ordinary people seeking better service delivery.“What is starting today will grow and become a tidal force in due course. It will sweep away the corrupt‚ the arrogant and the inept and thereby free the potential of South Africa to become a prosperous nation.”

Source: Unite Against Corruption a bold statement by people of SA: Madonsela – Times LIVE

An open letter to the I Told You So’s | Daily Maverick

Democracy is about more than just voting. It’s about how we participate in our society, how we exercise our constitutional rights, including our right to protest and the freedom we have to express ourselves. It’s said by some that those who chose not to vote in elections lose their right to criticise. By the same token, people who bitch but don’t participate in collective efforts (like the march against corruption) to solve our social and political problems should have another drink and tone down.As you read this I will hopefully be close to arriving home on the long flight back from New York City. I had been there providing company to my 76-year-old father who is bedridden with cancer. I’m coming home to march with thousands of others to the Union Buildings today to call for action against pandemic corruption. If I have to go back to the US a few days later so be it. Marching is my civic duty.Although some have tried valiantly to invent hidden agendas and conspiracy theories for the marches, the reasons we are mobilising our society again against corruption is quite simple. Corruption is strangling us. It diverts billions of rands destined for the poor into the hands of ostentatious playboys and girls. It causes children like six-year-old Michael Komape to drown in a pit toilet at school. It gives tenders for teaching braille to companies that are braille illiterate. It murders. It causes unemployment and despair. It fuels the nyaope epidemic. It avoids paying taxes. It transfers money illegally out of our country, money that should be given to the South African Revenue Service. It’s being covered up by people at the pinnacle of our government, business community and police.We started http://www.uniteagainstcorruption.co.za on June 16. We promised to march and march we will. There are now two possibilities about what might happen in a few hours time on the roads leading to the Union Buildings and National Assembly. There could be unprecedented marches with the diversity and common purpose we last found when we stood in long queues to vote on 27 April 1994. Then, all those who voted for the African National Congress (ANC) were united in our desire for a socially and politically just country. We could repeat that if today there could be hundreds of thousands of people united against corruption – people not used to marching, people in the process of becoming active citizens – we could see unity, empathy and solidarity between the poor, the unemployed, the exploited working classes and the middle classes.That would be a game changer.Or we could see a few thousand of the usual suspects, people who tirelessly stand up time and time again for social justice, dignity and equality.Whether it’s the former or the latter really depends on you. But what we must appreciate is that democracy is about more than just voting. It’s about how we participate in our society, how we exercise our constitutional rights, including our right to protest and the freedom we have to express ourselves. It’s said by some that those who chose not to vote in elections lose their right to criticise. In our country they chose not to use a power won at great cost and pain to millions of people. By the same token, people who bitch but don’t participate in collective efforts to solve our social and political problems should have another drink and tone down.You get what you deserve.If the marches are smaller than we want the ‘I told you so’s’ will ‘I told you so’. Richard Poplak’s brand of morbid defeatism will have triumphed. The corrupters will smirk gleefully. The corruption defenders and corruption denialists in the ANC and the South African Communist Party leadership will rubbish the marches.To some extent you will all be wrong. Don’t underestimate our commitment. Indeed, a great deal has already been achieved. In the last three months we have worked tirelessly, undeterred by skeptics and cynics, to rediscover unity around vision of a just South Africa. We have started to reassert that vision. Two trade unions federations and the collection of unions around the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa have supported the marches. Over 300 non-governmental organisations. Over 100 organisations of artists. The Christian and Muslim faiths have spoken out. People from all of these groups have begun to meet and plan and work together again. That is precious. Change doesn’t come in a big bang, flicked out of the end of a wand. It takes work.We have raised awareness about corruption, turned it into a political issue, helped people see the connections between corruption, poverty and inequality. The Christian churches have taken a strong position, recognising: “Twenty-five years ago we mobilised across the board to take responsibility for our country, nowadays people have simply abandoned hope as they feel powerless to change anything. We believe ordinary citizens need to take responsibility again to make sure that corruption ends in every sphere of so

Source: An open letter to the I Told You So’s | Daily Maverick

ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST CORRUPTION STAGE ACTIVATION IN DURBAN CBD 14:30 FRI 25 SEP 2015 | Unite Against Corruption

Following the successful launch forum for the Artists United Against Corruption movement held at DUT’s City Campus on Wednesday 16 September, a number of artists from various disciplines have come together to stage a protest performance featuring dance, poetry and drummers on Friday 25 September at 14:30.A group of young KZN creatives have collaborated to use their talents for performance activism. Dancers from Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre and Phakama Dance Theatre, along with drummers and poets from the BAT Centre and Nowadays Poets have created a 20 minute performance designed to emotionally affect audiences and elicit an empathetic response through the use of movement, sound and spoken word. Centered on corruption, the activation focuses particularly on the lack of transparency regarding the development of nuclear power plants in KwaZulu Natal as an example of this. It is hoped that through these connections some real, systemic change may originate and that awareness is generated.The event takes place outside the Nicol Square Parkade on the corner of Dr Yusuf Dadoo St (Grey) and Dr A B Xuma St (Commercial). This politically significant space is historically known as “Red Square” – an important venue for mass rallies organised in resistance to apartheid. Under the backdrop of the billboard celebrating 60 years of the Freedom Charter and the message of welcome from eThekwini Mayor Cllr James Nxumalo, “Keep Our City Clean,” this site is an ideal choice for the Artists United Against Corruption.This activation forms part of a wider movement of Civil Society Organisations planning Regional & National action under the banner of ‘Unite Against Corruption’ (UAC). Artists have United to join this call to end corruption in SA. The AUAC activation is part of a series of activities leading up to the Marches at the Parliament Buildings in Cape Town and the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 30 September 2015.

Source: ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST CORRUPTION STAGE ACTIVATION IN DURBAN CBD 14:30 FRI 25 SEP 2015 | Unite Against Corruption