#HANDSOFFUWC - OPEN LETTER TO THE PARENTS OF THE ARSONISTS AND DESTROYERS AT UWC
Dear AshleyFataar
Doreen February
Marcus Solomon
Shaida Meniers
+ the other 29 members of your Facebook Page
I do not purport to speak on behalf of anybody but myself as an alumnus of UWC and a taxpayer and voter of South Africa. Those who would want to support or oppose me in this are as always welcome to do so here and any other social media platform where this letter will appear.
In this letter I will address your statement dated 15 November 2015 as it appeared on this page and posted by Shahnaz Adams. I also perused the original statement posted on your group Facebook page and satisfied myself that Shahnaz did not misrepresent your statement (see here).
As I said, I had a look at your Facebook group page and was in particular interested in the number of members on that Page. As of 7:45 this morning it had 33 members. I take it then that you speak on behalf of those members who have children at UWC or are alumni only. You will notice in what I will say below, that I am only interested in the state of play at UWC. It is therefore possible that of the 33 members, a smaller number would have an interest in what happens at UWC.
I will however, for the sake of this letter, assume that all 33 members have in interest in UWC.
That being so, I am sure that you will all agree that you can barely purport to represent all 22 000(+) of the current UWC students and the very many thousands of former and prospective students at UWC. When you therefore talk of "students" in your statement, you can only talk of your own children. That is in any case how I understand your opening sentence "We are parents of students at the University of the Western Cape and CPUT."
The point I make above might sound pedantic but it is nevertheless and important one, because in the full text of your statement you purport to speak on behalf of a much broader constituency than what you actually represent.
Let me now address a few points in your statement.
1. If you confine the definition of students to your own children and YOUR children have not been involved in any act of violence or intimidation or disruption at UWC, then of course you would be correct to say "They are not violent nor hooligans." You are of course aware of the fact that some other students and/or individuals have indeed been participating in acts of violence and intimidation and destruction. It would have been helpful and in the interest of balance and honesty to then indeed also condemn those whom have indeed been guilty of violence and hooliganism.
2. You invoke the "symmetry" of the violence argument. Unfortunately you use a false comparative. The violence that I have seen from the police has been in response to the violence perpetuated by those students, whom on your version and approach were not your well behaved children. The violence to which the police responded was in fact inflicted upon fellow students, university staff and against university infrastructure. Looking at their violence from the perspective of students who and buildings that have done nothing to those who burned and pulled down inanimate infrastructure and intimidated the vast majority of students who now want to get on with their academic lives, I get the impression that we are talking here more of acts of terrorism and intimidation akin to what we have seen recently in Beirut and Paris.
3. You then go on to talk about to broader philosophical, sociological and political matters in the context of "Those in power and authority wish to buffer themselves from legitimate protest, anger and frustration of those in society who are yet to taste freedom." I would be very interested to know who you are talking about in the quoted sentence. Once more, confining myself to UWC and taking it that you are confining yourselves to YOUR OWN children and speaking on their behalf only, I have not seen any evidence that the UWC Executive refused to talk to students. From all the press releases and statements, one get the opposite impression. Here is an administration that has bent over backwards (to the point where they are now being blamed for being too lenient with the terrorists [your own children are of course excluded, as you stated upfront: "We know our children. They are not violent nor hooligans"] and I am therefore not talking about them). When I read your statement I immediately heard the ideology of a particular political party. Your reference to Marikana of course did nothing to reduce my suspicion that we are actually dealing with a matter that is bigger than fees that must fall or outsourcing of employees.
4. You invoke the tragic events at Marikana. I experience that invocation as an insult to all 44 people who were massacred during that period. I have not seen news reports of where protesting students were mowed down by security forces. A few rubber bullet and baton injuries and teargas inhalation as well as manhandling of students are the worst I have seen. On the other hand I HAVE seen numerous reports and pictures of burnt down buildings, broken windows, tearful and terrified students at UWC. This was inflicted upon them not by the police or security guards, but by the students and/or individuals, who are, on your version, not your children. Your children have therefore not been at the receiving end of any of the violence from the police or other security forces.
5. You are absolutely correct when you state that you "... understand the recent clashes ...resulted from...the practice of reneging of agreements." What you fail to mention is the party at UWC who have reneged on agreements. I am sure you are aware that there was a mass meeting at UWC after which the SRC, the FMF (which in and of itself remains an amorphous group whose leadership and position changes depending on the hour of the day and the direction from which the wind blows) and university management reached an agreement on the way forward. This agreement was widely circulated and a new exam time-table was agreed upon. No sooner had the ink dried on that agreement and the "FMF" grouping decided that this was not enough. I would suggest that you gather all available information and then reconsider your position on this point.
6. I see that you declare that you are parents and also workers. It might interest you that many of those students who just want to get on with their studies also have parents who are workers. Some of their parents are not workers because they are unemployed. A large number of them do not even have access to the internet ( a privilege that all 33 of you obviously have because you are members of a group on Facebook). By all means, oppose outsourcing, Such is your right. But what you should not do is to support a minuscule number of students in their determination to terrorise 22 000 students and their parents who can ill afford to lose this academic year. I find it laughable and ironic that you can be so concerned about workers at UWC and ignore the plight of the parents who are struggling to make ends meet and who have a student or students at UWC. Some would accuse you of hypocrisy. I am reserving judgment.
I will not deal with your suggested way forward in much detail other than to say that the suggestions are based on a number of false premises. These are:
(a) There is still a legitimate "Fees Must Fall" campaign. That ship has sailed. A process has been put in place and most other universities have gone back to class and are writing exams. In fact, WITS where this all started are writing their exams and students will be graduating.
(b) Security forces are on the UWC campus to intimidate your children. They are there because a small group of students have been terrorising the majority. Once that small group is contained there will be no need for the security presence. If you therefore have any influence over those students or their parents you might want to consider asking them to stop what they are doing.
(c) Those accused of acts of arson, vandalism and intimidation should get a free pass. I am sure as parents you teach your children there are choices and consequences. Those who have been arrested on various charges should go through the court process. They will either be vindicated or found guilty. You will be feeding a trend that is taking in shape in South Africa where nobody accepts responsibility for their choices and everybody else is being blamed for such choices.
(d) That all students are being prevented by UWC management from studying unhindered. An objective review of the facts point in a different direction. It is the actions of those students who have been burning down infrastructure, vandalising student accommodation and threatening fellow students who have created this context. I have not seen any evidence that the University management has gone through student residences and kicked doors down, sprayed powder into rooms, broke windows and burned down rooms and offices. How they can now be asked to stop doing those things is quite frankly beyond me.
(e) All students are being evicted from residences by university management. What I have seen is that those students who appeared in court (of course your own would not be amongst them as you stated they are neither violent nor hooligans) have been order by court, as part of their bail conditions, not to be allowed back on campus. Given the serious charges against them I agree with that condition. As for the rest, and those who have accommodation because their residences were not burnt down, I am sure the university administration will allow them to go about their business.
I am afraid therefore that your suggestions will not ensure a lasting peace only the destruction of the academic project at UWC. In any event, you are not speaking for the students who have been arrested and excluded from campus because your own children have not been part of the group who was violent and behaved like hooligans.
Do not purport to speak on their behalf. They have their own parents and lawyers. You know what they say about birds of a feather flocking together. Your children do not want to be associated with arsonists, vandals and hooligans.
Yours sincerely.
Chris Kilowan
Chris Kilowan is an alumnus of the University of the Western Cape.
