Statement of COSAS Johannesburg 13th REC Issued after a succesfull REC extended meeting

18 December 2016

COSAS in Johannesburg has been quiet on a number of issues, but the 13th REC has taken a sober resolution that ours is to radically speak out and act against injustices that affect learners. It is in this context that we decided to release this statement to the media.

On the issue of Free Wifi hotspot

As COSAS we are not suprised by the decision of the DA mayor to close Wifi hotspots and claim that it is wastefull expenditure. We have always said that the DA does not care about the citizens of Johannesburg but they only care about advancing the interests of the white capitalists monopoly.

We demand that the DA must bring back free Wifi hotspots before the first month of the 2017 academic year ends or as students we will have no other solution than to mobilise all young people to make the city of Johannesburg ungovernable. We further demand that all schools in Johannesburg must have free wifi hotspot.

On bogus educational institutions

We call on the Gauteng Department of Education together with the City of Johannesburg to ensure that all unaccredited educational institutions to be closed before the end of the first academic term of 2017. Learners are becoming very impatient and they led by COSAS will forcefully close this schools.

Whether they arrest us or not the struggle will continue we cannot continue allowing children of the working class to be robbed of their hard earned money which was attained through sweat and blood. We continue struggling where we live while there are people who rob our parents, brothers and sisters.

On Private schools

As COSAS we continue witnessing the dual education system of Private and Public schools, whereby children of the poor get poor quality public education and the children of the rich get quality private education. As COSAS we reject the dual education system and call on all government officials starting with the ministry of education and MEC Panyaza Lesufi to take their learners to public schools.

We continue seeing learners from private schools excelling more than those in public schools, we have also seen private school learners having the unfair advantage of writting exams in their mother tongue while we are forced to write in English.

As COSAS we will soon embark on a mass mobilization campaign to lobby for all private schools to be changed to public schools and if the government does not give us a timeline of how this will be implemented we will then go on a second radical stage of our struggle.

On the publication of Matric results

As COSAS Johannesburg we will ensure that no newspaper with matric results will be sold because the publication of matric results has a number of disadvantages. Starting with the fact that it contradicts the right to privacy, it also makes learners loose self confidence and end up committing suicide due to some learners stealling their student numbers.

And these media companies don't do anything to develop the education of our country. As COSAS unless if these newspapers are distributed for free we are going to burn them and we lobby all students to do the same.

On the succession debate of ANC

As COSAS we choose to distance ourselves from the succession debate we will continue lobbying all young people behind the banners of the ANC as led by whoever will be leading it by then. We also lobby our alliance patners in the PYA to do the same.

On Fees must fall

As COSAS we are in solidarity with the students who call for free education however the fees must fall as led by this counter revolutionary political ostrich who has interests of being a celebrity but does not know the correct platform called Mcebo Dlamini is not the correct way to fight this important struggle.

We cannot be led by people who do not know anything about the struggle of not affording tertiary education. And as PYA we will fight this struggle of ours in our own way. We also want to make it clear that he is a young boy and does not scare us and this thing of him saying that no one will register to tertiary education institutions won't succeed. Mcebo has degrees but does not want us to get degrees. We cannot allow gate keeping in education.

We further warn the Department of Higher education and universities to ensure that no fee increment will take place for 2017 academic year. We also demand bursaries from the City of Johannesburg.

On learners not recieving reports

As COSAS we will be expelling all teachers and principals who withheld learners reports due to any reason. As the biggest students movement we cannot allow such tendencies to continue in our schools.

On access to highereducation

While other leaders of the Congress Movement are fighting for deployment as COSAS we note the importance of higher education and call for leaders of ANC deployed in government to help our leaders with bursaries, learnership and other opportunites of paramount importance if they truly care about our future.

He who opens doors to education closes a door to a prison cell.

We call for the private sector to fund free education or face major boycots from students and their parents.

On Academic Excellence

We have seen a number of schools having high volumes of students failing. We call on all schools and districts with many learners who have failed to be put under administration. We also call on the Department of education to revisit the CAPS curriculum.

We also note the role played by the South Afican Schools Act towards the full realisation of our generation's clarion call of Academic excellence. It is in this context that we call on the Department of Education to organise a stakeholders general summit that will revisit the SASA document.

On PYA

We call for a Regional PYA summit that will strengthen the relationship of PYA and work towards rebuilding the Progressive Youth Alliance to ensure that we retain our position as the biggest and only voice of young people in South Africa.

On RCL

As COSAS Greater Johannesburg we have seen that the RCL has been reduced to just a platform to speak romantic english. RCL now sits in fancy boardrooms with teachers and it no longer represents students therefore we have resolved that we are going to deploy our own REC members to contest RCL positions at National level. We will also deploy other comrades at Provincial, district and school level.

We call on other regions to do the same but ensure that COSAS leaders do not contest each other even if they are from different regions.

We call on the Department of Education to have an RCL conference that will elect RCL National and Provincial leadership of RCL before going to elect school RCL as the National and Provincial leadership must officiate elections instead of elections being officiated by Teachers. Which are intimidating us.

Our campaign machinery is already in place to ensure an overhelming victory.

On PSM

We are aware that EFF has rented toothless dogs who don't understand anything about students politics to make noise and bark at the unstoppable progressive leadership of COSAS.

He who claims to be a leader but has no one following him is a full with no understanding of politics. There is no where that PSM will lead. As COSAS we are aware of those who are trying to unite our existing enemies as part of delegitimising COSAS as the only biggest voice of students but we remain unshaken and will continue with our task of galvanizing and masharling all our members, supporters and activists behind the banner of COSAS.

We lobby all progressive young people of Johannesburg to reject this counter revolutionary movement that has less than 325 members.

On Feeding school

As COSAS we lobby students to reject the food that we are forced to eat in Public school and we call on the MEC to lead by example and eat that food instead of eating food that costs more than R3000 in his fancy office. Until this food is corrected there is no school in

Johannesburg where the MEC will go to in Johannesburg.

We are in a process of mobilising young people to revolt against this nonsensical feeding scheme.

On Hairman Mashaba

We are disgusted by the tribalistic statement of Mashaba saying all foreigners must leave his city. We must clarify him that Johannesburg does not belong to him it belongs to the citizens. And Mr Black like me Hairman Mashaba you are not our mayor and if you continue doing state of the city address we will do it for you as the Mayor of students.

It shows lack of political understanding for a mayor to utter such xenophobic words. This thing of DA of fundraising a hair beauty king to lead our city must be dealt with. We call on all young people to reject the DA/ EFF coalition government.

On the Academic excellence clause in our organizational constitution

We appreciate the hardwork of our NEC in trying to achieve academic excellence. But we want to tell them that Academic Excellence is not something that you can enforce. Our concern is who determines what academic excellence clause is, what method was applied in determining what academic excellence is.

We all have different skills, experiences and genes now we find it difficult to understand that why millions of learners are tested with the same means. In townships there are only four subject streams and we feel that dictates to us which careers we must take. How about those who want to go into upholstery, artisans, arts and more then why will our intelligence be measured with subjects we will never ever use in our lives.

It is in this context that we reject this clause.

Conclusion

As COSAS we have developed a progressive program of action and a 6 month plan that aims to advance the classroom struggle and to champion the interests of all students at Pre- Tertairy education.

We declare war against Mcebo Dlamini and his counter revolutionary colleagues and we call on students to reject this criiminals who continue damaging our institutions.

I am a student by day and uMkhonto we sizwe by night Aluta Continua

Issued by COSAS, 18 December 2016