Thebe Mabanga
The leadership of the Pan Africanist Congress has refused to condemn the violent disruption of schools in the East Rand township of Tsakane by its student wing, blaming Minister of Education Kader Asmal and African National Congress-aligned teachers for provoking the upheavals.
The school disruption campaign by the Pan Africanist Student Organisation (Paso), in which students were intimidated and often forced to leave class, lasted most of the first school term this year. It affected both primary and high schools.
According to the community newspaper The African Reporter Paso has undertaken to suspend its campaign when pupils return to school in two weeks’ time.
Thami ka Plaatjie, the PAC’s secretary general, said the outbreak of violence was “the acute manifestation of accumulated frustration” that had built up since the Paso leadership met Gauteng education officials to raise concerns about school fees and exclusion on the grounds of age.
Paso is demanding school fees in the area be R25 a year for primary schools and R50 for secondary schools. Annual fees range between R120 and R300.
Ka Plaatjie also blamed teachers who belonged to the ANC-aligned South African Democratic Teachers’ Union for their unwillingness to engage Paso.
The campaign included a series of illegal gatherings. During one of these a Paso member, Ramorati Mokoena, died after being run over by a truck.
At Mokoena’s funeral PAC deputy president Motsoko Pheko blamed the government for the student’s death. Pheko said the authorities “believe and promote a culture of ignorance and death of the African mind, resulting in the premature death of our youth”.
He went on to lambaste the government for what he called “the sale of public education” that should be a right. He said the youth were deprived of the chance to dream, contemplate new possibilities and contribute to building their country. He made no mention of students’ violent conduct.
Three weeks ago Asmal, accompanied by Gauteng MEC for Education Ignatius Jacobs and deputy director general in the national Department of Education Duncan Hindle, visited Tsakane. Hindle said the delegation encountered “a group of students under the banner of Paso making a range of demands that cannot be addressed by schools”.
He said Paso’s age exclusion demands were a matter of national policy and school fees had been determined in a preceding academic year and agreed to by school governing bodies.
Asmal told the students that no one had the right to disrupt schools and parents needed to be involved in regulating school matters. He affirmed the education ministry’s willingness to engage the students once disruptions had ceased.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian this week Pheko blamed Asmal for provoking a situation with his visit that the PAC had already defused. He said that Asmal had failed to treat Paso members “as he would treat members of the [ANC-aligned] Congress of South African Students”. He said that if it had not been for the PAC leadership there would have been deaths from violent clashes.
It is understood that Paso’s national coordinator, Ndofi Mshuduli, and many of the campaign organisers are not learners, having finished matric a while ago.
Meanwhile, Pheko this week brushed aside media reports that PAC chief whip Patricia de Lille will appear before the party’s national executive committee next month to explain her statements contradicting the party’s endorsement of the recent Zimbabwe election.
“It is a dead issue,” Pheko said. He said that the PAC’s parliamentary motion congratulating Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was its official position. De Lille was entitled to voice her personal opinion.
Last week Ka Plaatjie accused De Lille of trying to build her personal profile by using the party, while the PAC’s secretary for education, Snail Mgwebi, accused her of “ridiculing and embarrassing” the party. He demanded an apology
De Lille hit back by branding Ka Plaatjie “an immature and childish politician who is too big for his boots”.