The Congress of South Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday said while it supported the call for free tertiary education‚ students should “resist the temptation of populism” and return to class.
“Cosatu is issuing a call to all students and their representatives‚ to engage with the new developments and participate in the processes that will take the process forward. We call on them to go back to their classes and allow other students to register for this academic year."
"The goal of free education cannot be achieved through unchecked and unrestrained defiance nor by students abandoning classes altogether‚” its national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said in a statement.
Students‚ he said‚ “should bring workable proposals and solutions to the table and not look for easy answers to complex problems. They should also guard against hired revolutionaries‚ who would want to hijack their struggles with the aim of harnessing their grievances for narrow political gains”.
Cosatu commended President Jacob Zuma for establishing a Commission of Inquiry into Higher Education Funding and welcomed the budget increase announced by the Minister of Higher Education‚ Blade Nzimande‚ saying this represents “the laying of the building blocks that will build a foundation towards the ultimate goal of a no fee education that we all support and demand”.
“The federation calls for unity between the students and the workers. They should use that unity to build their institutions of higher learning and not tear them down. Building means that they must resist the temptation of populism and must revisit the narrative of their campaign being the one of pushing for everything to fall... They should work with all stakeholders to lay a foundation for the ultimate goal of free education.”
Cosatu asks #FeesMustFall students to resume university studies
“Cosatu is issuing a call to all students and their representatives‚ to engage with the new developments and participate in the processes that will take the process forward. We call on them to go back to their classes and allow other students to register for this academic year."
"The goal of free education cannot be achieved through unchecked and unrestrained defiance nor by students abandoning classes altogether‚” its national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said in a statement.
Students‚ he said‚ “should bring workable proposals and solutions to the table and not look for easy answers to complex problems. They should also guard against hired revolutionaries‚ who would want to hijack their struggles with the aim of harnessing their grievances for narrow political gains”.
Cosatu commended President Jacob Zuma for establishing a Commission of Inquiry into Higher Education Funding and welcomed the budget increase announced by the Minister of Higher Education‚ Blade Nzimande‚ saying this represents “the laying of the building blocks that will build a foundation towards the ultimate goal of a no fee education that we all support and demand”.
“The federation calls for unity between the students and the workers. They should use that unity to build their institutions of higher learning and not tear them down. Building means that they must resist the temptation of populism and must revisit the narrative of their campaign being the one of pushing for everything to fall... They should work with all stakeholders to lay a foundation for the ultimate goal of free education.”
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