ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize was grilled by the youth of East London about free education, land restitution and unemployed graduates.
These were some of the burning issues that students from the University of Fort Hare, Walter Sisulu University and Buffalo City College posed to the ANC heavyweight at the Future Afrika Forum’s dialogue held at the Osner Hotel in East London last week.
Mkhize said he agreed with the students about the need for free education, but warned against those who threatened to shut down universities.
“Education should never be prevented. Not even the demand for free education.”
He had been asked if he thought free education was feasible.
He was speaking alongside Eastern Cape MEC for Education Mandla Makhuphula and historian Dr Nomalanga Mkhize.
Fort Hare economics student Mandilakhe Mpantsi addressed the high failure rate in the province’s schools, saying it was an “insult to the intellect of a black child” that pupils were told by the government that they only had to achieve 30% to pass.
This had the effect of undermining pupils from poor communities.
Dr Nomalanga Mkhize, a Rhodes University lecturer, agreed with student Michelle Meth who called for a generational mix in the leadership of the ruling party and the country.
“Old men in the ANC must leave,” said Meth.
The academic and columnist said the ANC needed a 30-year plan for the youth or risk losing the youth vote to the EFF.
She told the 300-strong audience that the ruling party had suffered “ideological fragmentation”.
“The ANC must ask: ‘What can we do for the youth for the next 30 years?’”
Another student said they struggled to find jobs or get into business because they did not have the money to start a business and the requirements to secure the funding were unfair.
She further told the panel that young people who did not have relatives in positions of power, often did not get jobs.
Mkhize agreed with most of the issues being raised by the students, especially that the struggle for democracy in South Africa was waged for the benefit of young people.
Treasurer grilled by youth
These were some of the burning issues that students from the University of Fort Hare, Walter Sisulu University and Buffalo City College posed to the ANC heavyweight at the Future Afrika Forum’s dialogue held at the Osner Hotel in East London last week.
Mkhize said he agreed with the students about the need for free education, but warned against those who threatened to shut down universities.
“Education should never be prevented. Not even the demand for free education.”
He had been asked if he thought free education was feasible.
He was speaking alongside Eastern Cape MEC for Education Mandla Makhuphula and historian Dr Nomalanga Mkhize.
Fort Hare economics student Mandilakhe Mpantsi addressed the high failure rate in the province’s schools, saying it was an “insult to the intellect of a black child” that pupils were told by the government that they only had to achieve 30% to pass.
This had the effect of undermining pupils from poor communities.
Dr Nomalanga Mkhize, a Rhodes University lecturer, agreed with student Michelle Meth who called for a generational mix in the leadership of the ruling party and the country.
“Old men in the ANC must leave,” said Meth.
The academic and columnist said the ANC needed a 30-year plan for the youth or risk losing the youth vote to the EFF.
She told the 300-strong audience that the ruling party had suffered “ideological fragmentation”.
“The ANC must ask: ‘What can we do for the youth for the next 30 years?’”
Another student said they struggled to find jobs or get into business because they did not have the money to start a business and the requirements to secure the funding were unfair.
She further told the panel that young people who did not have relatives in positions of power, often did not get jobs.
Mkhize agreed with most of the issues being raised by the students, especially that the struggle for democracy in South Africa was waged for the benefit of young people.
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