Jubie Matlou and Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
A showdown is looming between the government and the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) over the role of the student organisation in the disruption of education in schools.
The government is considering a relook at the role of Cosas in the proper running and governance of schools in what is emerging as a new tough approach in bringing township schools back to normal.
The Ministry of Education has gone as far as to no longer recognise Cosas and the Pan African Students’ Organisation (Paso) in Kwa-Thema educational institutions in a radical policy shift that seeks to stamp out party political activity in schools.
Bheki Khumalo, the Ministry of Education representative, said the ministry is unhappy with Cosas’s role in disturbances in Alexandra, Johannesburg, on Tuesday, when demonstrating students went on the rampage, and views the organisation as abdicating its responsi- bility to provide leadership to students.
“Impatient is not the word to describe Minister Asmal’s attitude to Cosas,” he said. “The minister holds the view that because the … march by Cosas resulted in the loss of life and damage to property … unrest is deplorable and it has no place in the education system. There has to be a relook at the role of the organisation’s last few months in the smooth running of schools.”
The last straw in strained relations between the student group and the department comes after Cosas president Lebogang Maile threatened to hold Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete hostage after the minister delivered a tongue-lashing address to Alexandra township students this week.
Tshwete’s visit to the area was part of a top government delegation which intervened in the chaos and mayhem in Alexandra and Kwa-Thema schools this past week.
Alexandra resembled its past, with running battles between students and police that left one student dead, several injured and property damaged.
The Tuesday unrest emanates from the slaying of a student leader, Andrew Radebe, in a complicated property dispute in which the deceased was allegedly shot and killed after he refused to be evicted from a backyard room.
Cosas members then went on the rampage to avenge Radebe’s death and protest against the police delay in apprehending the suspected killers.
The suspect handed himself over to police on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi ordered his arrest. The suspect has been charged with murder and government officials have ordered students to return to school.
In Kwa-Thema schooling has also been disrupted by continuing clashes between Cosas and Paso which have resulted in the death of 41 student leaders and more than 200 others since 1986. A government delegation of ministers and Gauteng MECs also visited Kwa-Thema in a bid to defuse the situation.
After visiting Kwa-Thema, Asmal described the situation in the East Rand township as “mindless gangsterism”. Tshwete has undertaken to increase police visibility in the area to ensure that school premises are safe.
In Alexandra, the meeting between the government and students was marked by acrimony and raised emotions as Tshwete told the students to go back to class and leave the apprehension of criminals to the police. Students responded by chanting and booing the ministers.
In a dramatic display of how bad relations had become, Maile stormed out of the meeting with the ministers, accusing the government delegation of arrogance and failure to understand the issues surrounding Tuesday’s mayhem.
The fallout between Asmal and Cosas dates back to 1998 when the student organisation launched a campaign against the exclusion of overaged students. Asmal dismissed Cosas’s actions as “irresponsible, regrettable and abusive”.
Khumalo emphasised there are no plans to ban Cosas, “because students, like other formations in society, need to have their own organisation to address grievances”. However, with regard to the schools’ situation in Kwa-Thema, Khumalo said Asmal has temporarily severed all ties with Cosas and Paso.
“Minister Asmal will interact with the student representative councils, as opposed to student political organisations.”
Cosas has been at the centre of unrest and disturbances in schools since the early 1980s. However, its strategies and tactics have come under increasing scrutiny and criti-cism in the new democratic dispensation, where there is an array of channels to address grievances.
Asmal told a press conference this week that “we are no longer slaves who had to revolt. We must use all instruments of democracy to achieve our goals.”
Last week the North West Department of Education closed down five Potchefstroom high schools after Cosas members disrupted classes and damaged school property. The organisation is accused of intimidation after its members coerced students at gunpoint to join a protest march against a school principal it accused of financial mismanagement.
North West education Deputy Director General Dr Anis Mahomed Kadoria said: “The volatile situation [in schools] has the potential of threatening human life and compromises the safety of the community, learners and educators.”
A high-school student in Alexandra said Cosas members had forced students to join the Tuesday protest march. It is alleged that Cosas organised the procurement of firearms and petrol to make bombs for the Tuesday action.
Township school grounds have recently turned out to be a hive of ill-discipline and lawlessness in which students reportedly carry firearms, sell drugs on school premises and patronise nearby shebeens during school hours.
Alexandra’s Realogile High, which is at the centre of the unrest, is reported to have been the hardest hit. In one incident a student drew a firearm on a teacher who had questioned why the student was not wearing a uniform. Many schools in Alexandra and Kwa-Thema are reported to be run by gun-toting youths, and that teachers are hostages of their students.
Nat Kekana, African National Congress constituency MP for Alexandra, dismissed allegations of ill-discipline in schools as isolated.
Kekana said the problems in schools should be seen in the broader context of returning normality and a culture of learning and teaching. “As far as I am concerned, Cosas is not a problem, but part of the solution to the Tuesday unrest.”
By Thursday morning students were reported to be going back to class in preparation for the half-yearly examinations due to commence next Tuesday.