OPINIONISTA: Adam Habib’s book is ‘an exercise in triumphalism’ and ‘denigrates’ FeesMustFall movement By Thato Mokoena
Rebels and Rage
Here is the problem – Wits took a unilateral decision. The decision is ignorant of the fact that the majority of students across the system – and at Wits – are not getting through the system, a responsibility he shirks off to Basic Education for the quality of school-leaving learners. However, this excuse is misleading especially for an institution like Wits that due to its entry requirements would mostly, if not exclusively, accept students from the very top of the pile of school leavers.
Habib refers to students as either “deceitful”, “violent” or “drunk”. I won’t spend too much time on this mostly because I think that the VC will readily agree that the majority of the students and student leaders were sober. The question is why would he keep rehashing this point if the honest view is that most were sober throughout? Because the narrative he is driving doesn’t survive on sincerity so, naturally, the VC must paint them as degenerates to continue his narrative.
This was vital to the nature and success of FeesMustFall because even though there were attempts at disproportionate influence among protesters, these always failed. Whether it was academics, students or political formations – no one could control it. It is important to note that while student leaders condemned the acts of violence, they would always negotiate in the interests of the students; the VC exploits to make the point that the movement encouraged violence: there was no encouragement of violence but rather an attempt to not have people’s futures destroyed by one moment of bad judgement.
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