Disappointment due to cancellation of unorganized education conference
JOHANNESBURG – The Higher Education National Conference was deeply disappointed by all parties involved when the event was canceled after chaos broke out and organizers decided it was unsafe to proceed with the scheduled event.
The weekend conference in Midrand was attended by former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke and Prof. It was the culmination of months of consultation between Mary Metcalfe, Justice Yvonne McGarrow, Sello Hatang and other convenors, including Jabu Mabuza, and government, parents, civil society and student leaders about how to resolve the crisis in higher education.
The inaugural plenary session was disrupted several times during the Saturday morning, but was eventually dissolved after students threatened Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande when he was about to address them.
The marquee tent had to be evacuated due to concerns for everyone's safety.
Moseneke later told the media, “We have previously made agreements with all the student representatives, but it is a matter of how you integrate those agreements into the larger group.”
“There's no way we can have meaningful discussions if we're not prepared to listen to each other. South African education experts were here today and we got nowhere. That's really sad.”
Nzimande and all the university vice-chancellors left as chaos broke out and students started throwing chairs and water bottles at each other.
Moseneke said the altercation was “unacceptable”.
EFF Student Command general secretary Phiwaba Madokwe denied allegations that the EFF had come to disrupt the proceedings. He said that he initially objected to the statement by the program director that all conference participants were treated equally.
“How can I be considered equal to a man who will hand me a suspension letter on Monday because of what I said today?” He said.
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“It is these students who have sacrificed everything to start this conversation across the country, but we are forced to have the same conversation sitting with people who think nothing of us.
“We are not here to fight. If we had wanted to disrupt this conference, it would not have started. We wanted to talk but on our terms.”
Precious Banda, a student leader of the Young Communist League, said that they had come prepared for a serious debate and were very sad and disappointed.
“This was an opportunity to have a historic event and bring solutions. Instead the event was hijacked by people who stood against the agreements we made before coming here. These people lack content and logic and hence they resort to disruption.”
SASSCO's Tembani Makata said she regretted that she had been misled in the months leading up to the conference that everyone involved was looking for solutions to ensure that higher education did not collapse.
“I think it was deliberately planned,” he said.
Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, secretary general of the South African Council of Churches, who was part of the convening committee, said the main fear was for the safety of people and the infrastructure at the Eskom Advanced Institute of Learning, where the conference was taking place.
“We feared for the infrastructure and the safety of these children,” he said.
They said they will continue to look at ways to create safe spaces for conversations about higher education. He was not worried that the violence of that day would spread to campuses.