Article on Students
ATTACKED by the South African Police Service
RDM News Wire. | 22 October, 2015
14:40
CORNERED: Police grab protesting
students outside parliament. Several students were injured when the protest
turned violent
Image by: ESA ALEXANDER
Image by: ESA ALEXANDER
The Pan Africanist Congress has condemned the
behaviour of the SAPS after police attacked students protesting outside
Parliament on Wednesday.
In a detailed statement issued on
Thursday‚ the party said the SAPS was guilty of “hooligan behaviour”.
“The SAPS has consistently showed
misinterpretation of its role in the democratic society. It intentionally
operates as if this country is still a police state of the apartheid era.
Hence‚ the PAC finds the need to remind the SAPS that its mandate is to protect
the constitution and citizens‚ it is not to disrupt social discourse‚” the
party said.
The PAC chastised the police for
creating disorder by “overshadowing the genuine concerns of the public”.
The party emphasised: “The SAPS must
recognise that Parliament‚ its buildings‚ its members and its premises belong
to citizens of the country‚ including the student population. Students have
right to demand to engage Parliamentarians in their own Parliament.”
The party also expressed support for
the Fees Must Fall campaign‚ and said that its student wing‚ PASMA‚ was taking
an active part in the campaign.
It called for free education up to
undergraduate level‚ which it said was “technically sound and financially
feasible”.
It called for postgraduate students
to be paid a salary. “Knowledge-generating postgraduates are creating value -
therefore they should receive a salary for their work during their studies as
we live in the era of the knowledge economy.”
It called for the National Student
Financial Aid Scheme to be abandoned immediately‚ to be replaced by “fully
state-funded systems for all academically qualifying students without
considering a financial means test of parents”.
The party condemned Minister of
Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande‚ saying he had clearly "taken
management’s side" against the students. “He had been demanding that
student should compromise themselves and their interest in favour of
professional looters of university funds‚” it said‚ adding that President Jacob
Zuma’s cabinet was in favour of Nzimande’s stance.
