Universities, technikons and colleges were once the breeding ground of political consciousness and leadership.
Politics had a different meaning then. Students felt compelled to enter it to be part of the liberation struggle, which in turn gave them an identity and shaped today’s leaders.
Student structures enabled the youth of Soweto to take to the streets in 1976. And it was the students who made townships ungovernable in the mid-Eighties, prompting the series of states of emergency that marked that era.
Students understood the politics of their country. But they would not have had any impact if their approach to issues of national interest were individualistic — as is the case with today’s youth.
Most university students today are concerned about their individual economic freedom. Graduates no longer root for the preservation of a national culture founded on the principles of ubuntu and those enshrined in the Freedom Charter. Does “The people shall share” ring a bell?
Students today seem more intrigued with the latest fashions, the top three-series Be My Wife, owning a plush townhouse and, of course, black economic empowerment, if they happen to be black. They claim to be citizens of a new South Africa that embraces Western culture and discards backward philosophies that go against human evolution.
A black university graduate told me recently that his involvement in youth politics would only open up healing wounds. He said he preferred to live the “South African dream”, which, he said, involved living together on equal terms and letting “bygones be bygones”.
“We want education, we want money, we want a good life and I don’t think being stuck in politics will help us achieve that. Involvement in politics divides us even further as a people because our politics is race-sensitive,” he said.
The fact is: university students and young people in general today are less interested in politics.
Recently, two historically white institutions, Pretoria and Stellenbosch universities, announced that the influence of mainstream national politics at universities was disruptive to the learning culture.
To counter this, the universities introduced student representative council (SRC) election constitutions to keep student politics within the confines of the universities. If that is not killing student politics, what is?
The SRC elections at the University of Pretoria two months ago were a circus, I’ve heard. Of 22 000 potential voters, only 2 500 students voted. A student told me that it did not even feel like an election. She said many students did not know who to vote for and simply voted for friends who were standing.
The new election constitution stipulates that students nominate representatives per faculty and the selection is based on academic success. Given the fact that some student leaders have failed to handle both academic commitment and student leadership simultaneously, one wonders if that is such a good idea.
Excluding mainstream politics at student level is a blow to our politics. Almost all our MPs were politically active students. Do you think these people were born to lead or were trained to be leaders?
It’s your call. But I would like to suggest that the expression “leaders are born, not made” be discarded. I believe circumstances and commitment can make great leaders too.