OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday
THE Congress of South African Students (Cosas) is set to clash with the government after it vowed to prevent pupils from going to Gautengs private and former Model C schools, The Star newspaper reports.
The student body was also said to have threatened to wreck classrooms at the schools.
The newspaper quoted Cosas members as saying they would also embark on a “go-slow” from Wednesday, during which pupils would arrive late for lessons.
The planned action is part of Cosas’s Operation Vala campaign, which is aimed at stopping the government from subsidising what the organisation calls “bourgeois education”.
John Makgoka, Cosas’s Gauteng chairman, said on Monday: “We will stop them from boarding taxis, trains and buses. We will go to their classrooms, kick their doors and disrupt their teachers during lessons.”
Asked by the newspaper whether this would not amount to intimidation, Makgoka said: “We are left with two options, either to submit or fight.”
The Gauteng provincial police commissioner’s representative, Director Henriette Bester, said they were aware of Cosas’s threats, and plans were being put in place.
Cosas’s plans drew criticism from Education Minister Kader Asmal, who described the student body’s plans as “anarchic and extremely harmful”.
“Since Cosas is doing this without consulting the minister, it is up to the ANC to consider any relationship they may have with Cosas.
“And if in fact there is such interruption, it will affect their progress and particularly their preparation for matriculation examinations,” Asmal said on Monday.
He appealed to pupils to ignore Cosas’s call.
The ANC said on Monday night the party had distanced itself from Cosas’s action, with its representative, Nomfanelo Kotosaying, saying no one has a right to disrupt education.
“The ANC will consider a meeting with Cosas to iron out this issue.”
Gauteng Education MEC Ignatius Jacobs said he would put “every measure” in place to prevent disruption of schools, but declined to elaborate.
The Human Rights Commission’s Jody Kollapen told The Star that although as Cosas had the right to protest, “it is unacceptable for Cosas to deny others their constitutional rights to education”.