The end of a generational crisis?

Since the beginning of the #FeesMustFall campaign, all we've been doing with some colleagues and friends is exchange how we survived this unjust system. It was some sort of therapy session, because most of us thought no one would understand why we lived from one cash loan to another. Today most of us look back and realise we need to catch up with people who did not have this burden.

It would be unfair of us we just stood by and not try reverse the situation for future news editors, doctors and other professionals that will take this country to greater heights. In most of my blog posts, I sound like a CD with scratch. I complained about how the ANC government deliberately kept majority of the people illiterate just to stay where they are. In power. My complaint was supported by the living conditions of the township I was born in and still live in. Poverty stares you in the face. But people are pacified with short-term solutions like social grants. And that is part of their campaign trail when they seek votes. We need money for bread. We will vote for that money. 

It has become normal for a child from Mabopane, Soshanguve or Sebokeng to say, "I have matric but I didn't have cash to further my studies". Not all of us have the fighting spirit to see us through beyond our circumstances. Why should we all work 15 times harder to have a decent life? 

The #FeesMustFall protest has revealed how sons and daughters of the working class survive to get education which they will spend first part of their careers (if and when they get jobs) paying for. It is clear that the "bornfrees" will no longer accept the generational crisis. Their fighting spirit reminds us all of the 1976 uprising. Sadly, some of the people in government today were in the class of 1976. The people who survived live ammunition, fighting back with rocks and blocking with rubbish bin lids. They are our leaders today. Using apartheid-style tactics on peaceful protesters. Have they forgotten?

Personally, as a journalist, it is not easy to be objective in this matter. The ripples of aparheid have set me 15 years behind my white peers. It is a painful reality that only makes me want to be in solidarity with the protesting students. This is not some sort of "reverse racism mechanism" as some suggest. If you look closely, the marching students are from all walks of life. It would be disingenuous to use this as an opportunity to be vindictive to irrelevant people even. 

I commend these young people. Long live the spirit of Steve Biko. Long live the spirit of Robert Sobukwe. Mandela. Sisulu. Ngoyi. Sekhukhune. Moshoeshoe. Makhosi amakhulu esizwe!