Minister Manamela calls for calm amid Fort Hare unrest<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cOur immense priority is to ensure that the academic program resumes within the next week. In a productive meeting with the university\u2026I\u2019ve directed the University Council and management to put in place all necessary measures to reopen the institution and allow teaching and learning to continue, including temporary online modalities where required.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents must be able to complete their studies in peace and also in safety. That is non-negotiable. The university must ensure that the academic year is not put in any jeopardy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manamela condemned the violence at the university \u2013 describing it as \u201ccriminal\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe destruction and violence that engulfed the University of Fort Hare in recent days is deeply tragic. A university should be a space of learning, hope and progress. Not one of fear and destruction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intimidation of staff\u2026 and the disruption of teaching and learning cannot and will never be justified. What has happened at Fort Hare is not protest. It is criminal. It destroys opportunity, it erodes confidence, but it also undermines the dreams of thousands of young people who look to education as their only chance for a better life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working closely with the South African Police Service, the Eastern Cape government, and the university security teams to restore come and protect students and staff,\u201d he said at a media briefing on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Minister acknowledged that there are challenges that must be addressed by the institution\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond the immediate crisis, I\u2019ve also asked the University Council to reflect deeply on the number of critical issues when they meet tomorrow. [This] including the state of governance and leadership, the role and status of the SRC [Student Representative Council], the institutional culture of the university, the concerns raised about the Vice Chancellor\u2019s contract and the insourcing of workers, which are some of the issues that are believed to have triggered protest at the university.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the coming week, I will respond in greater detail to the feedback received from the ministerial team led by Professor Ahmed Bauer, which has been engaging students, staff, and other stakeholders over the last several days. Their work is central to shaping the next phase of our intervention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Arrests\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nTurning to matters at the University of Free State where protests have also erupted, the Minister said some 17 students have been arrested including two who attempted to \u201cthrow a petrol bomb in a cubicle that houses security\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow this is criminality. Even if these people are students, they are basically unleashing crime. And I think in both instances\u2026we need to make that distinction between people who are students and… criminals who are also in the process endangering the life of other students and staff.<\/p>\n
Safety enhancement<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cBut we have to approach this in a very systemic way. And that’s why we will be accelerating our engagement internally so that we fix the system internally in order to ensure that we don\u2019t keep students being vulnerable, but also our engagement with the South African Police Service on ways and means within which we can restore order where necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Minister emphasised, however, that security responses alone \u201cwill not be enough\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to deal with some of the issues that have resulted in protest in some of the institutions, but also that some of the violence is not even related to protest but it’s related to the fact that institutions are being seen as business enterprises for infrastructure, for tenders, around services, accommodation, and so on and some of this violence is related to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to make sure that universities and institutions within the post-school education and training sector return to what they\u2019ve been established for, become places of learning and teaching and not what we have seen in the most recent days,\u201d Manamela said. \u2013\u00a0SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela (pictured), has assured students at Free<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t