#FeesMustFallReloaded

[Mzanzi]

A massive student-lead movement continues to sweep across my home country of South Africa, protesting against the dramatic increase in the cost of tertiary education in recent years. The exorbitant cost of university tuition puts any hope of a higher education beyond the reach of the majority of citizens and it is this which students (myself included) are currently fighting.

Some quick background info: the original #FeesMustFall protests began in October 2015 when students of the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) locked down campus for three days after the announcement of a 10.5% increase in fees. Soon, universities across the country joined them and began a nation-wide struggle to make free education a reality.
This first round of protests came to an end when President Jacob Zuma declared that there would be a complete freeze on all university fees, capping them at 2015 levels.

As you can guess, this only placated students but did nothing to cure the underlying problem. A new struggle, referred to by many as #FeesMustFallReloaded, began in early August of this year. The first universities to protest were the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal and Mangosuthu University of Technology but pretty soon every university in the country was back at it. At the time of writing, the protests are still in full swing and all academic progress has been brought to a halt until the government acknowledges our demand for the free quality education we were promised in 1994.

[ckaihatsu]

S. Africa/Azania: Sign-On Petition to Stop the Repression Against the Students, Drop All Charges, and Repeal the 8% Tuition Increase!


Attention:
Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu
Ambassador of South Africa in the United States
3501 Massachussets Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20009
Email: [email protected]

Dear Ambassador Mahlangu:

Students in South African/Azania have mobilized by the hundreds of thousands since the announcement of an 8% increase in university registration fees. The fee increase was announced on September 19 by Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande.

"Fees Must Fall!" has been the central demand of the students. They have raised this demand so that the children of the Black majority can have access to higher education. The fighting students have received support from the union of Metalworkers (NUMSA).

But the ANC-led government, just as it did not long ago against the striking miners at Marikana, has responded to the students' demands with fierce repression. On September 28, police shot at students at close range with the rubber bullets on the campuses of Johannesburg and Cape Town. Dozens of students were arrested.

On October 14, again in Johannesburg, the police gunfire sent several students to the hospital. On Tuesday, October 18, a trial began in Johannesburg involving several students, including Busisiwe Cathrine Seabe, one of the spokespersons for the students.

We, the undersigned, urge the South African government to put an immediate end to the repression against the students. We call for dropping all charges against Busisiwe Cathrine Seabe and her comrades. And we call on the government to immediately repeal the 8% registration fee increase and to grant free higher education for all!

We call upon you, Ambassador Mahlangu, to relay our petition to the proper authorities in South Africa.

Sincerely,

(follows signatories on this petition, which will be sent to the South African Embassy in Washington, DC, with copies to the student movement in South Africa/Azania.)

ENDORSEMENT COUPON

[ ] Please add my name to the petition above to the South African government

NAME

ORG / UNION (list if for id. only)

CITY

STATE

EMAIL

(please fill out this coupon and return to [email protected])

[ckaihatsu]

OWC2016 : URGENT SOLIDARITY WITH SOUTH AFRICAN STUDENTS


Dear friends and comrades!
Dear supporters of labour and democratic rights worldwide!
Dear delegates to the Mumbai World conference against war, exploitation and precarious labour!

One month ago, on September 19th in South Africa, thousands of students went on struggle against the decision of Minister of higher education, Blade Nzimande, to allow university to increase their fees by 8%.

One month ago, dozens of thousands of south African students went on the streets to say “Fees must fall”!

Their struggle is legitimate.

But the government answer was a brutal repression. Police shot on students with rubber bullets, arrested dozens of them.

Today, October 19th, delegated from South Africa to the Mumbai World conference sent us the following information: “all over the country, students are arrested”. Delegates from South Africa sent us the leaflet of the students (see attached).

I urge you to take all possible initiatives to say, with our friends and comrades in South Africa: “RELEASE OUR COMRADES NOW!”

Already we have been informed of initiatives of solidarity from Belgium, Brazil, France, Guine-Bissau, Mauritius, Russia. We call you to broaden the campaign, to address South African embassies around the world to say:

Immediately stop repression against students!
Release our comrades now!
Fees must fall!

Please send copies of your messages or initiatives to the following e-mail: [email protected]

Nambiath Vasudevan
Organizing committee of the Mumbai World conference against war, exploitation and precarious labour (November, 18, 19 & 20, 2016)

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RELEASE OUR COMRADES NOW.pdf
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[ckaihatsu]

Let's Ratchet Up Our Support to the #FeesMustFall Movement in South Africa!

October 19, 2016

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I am sending you below the statement urging increased support for the embattled South African students that was issued this morning by Nambiath Vasudevan on behalf of the Organizing Committee of the Mumbai World Conference Against War, Exploitation and Precarious Labour (Nov. 18-20).

As you will see, the statement is accompanied by an attachment sent to the Mumbai organizers by the delegates from South Africa who will be attending the Mumbai conference. It is titled, "Release Our Comrades Now!"

Dozens of you have already endorsed the sign-on petition to the South African ambassador in Washington urging an end to the repression against the students, the dropping of all charges (including the release from jail of all detained students), and the repeal of the 8% fee increase. We thank you for your support. If you have not yet endorsed, the coupon is included below. Please sign it.

But there is much more that can be done. South African students at Columbia University in New York City organized earlier this week a rally on campus and a march to the South African Consulate, where they delivered a sign-on letter addressed to Ambassador Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu with these demands. See the October 18 article from South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper titled, "Students in New York Rise Up in Solidarity with #FeesMustFall":

http://mg.co.za/article/2016-10-18-students-in-new-york-rise-up-in-solidarity-with-feesmustfall

One of our readers also sent us a report on the struggle at Lincoln University (45 miles outside Philadelphia), where students have staged a sit-in to protest atrocious campus conditions and where a number of students made the connection with the struggle of the students for free education in South Africa/Azania.

So the question is posed: Can we ratchet up our support for the #FeesMustFall Movement in South Africa?

Students, faculty and campus workers -- together with their supports citywide -- are campaigning for free tuition at City College of San Francisco. Couldn't the issue of solidarity with the South African students be raised in the course of this campaign? Couldn't this be done on other campuses across the United States?

Please send us any reports on your statements or actions so that we can forward them to the student organizers in South Africa/Azania and to the organizers of the Mumbai Conference.

Thanks in advance for your continued support,

In solidarity,

Alan Benjamin,
Delegate to the Mumbai Conference
(on behalf of the U.S. delegation)

- - - - - - - - - -


ENDORSEMENT COUPON OF SIGN-ON PETITION TO THE
SOUTH AFRICAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES

[ ] Please add my name to the petition to the South African government calling for an immediate halt to the repression against the students, the dropping of all charges (and release of all detained students), and the repeal of the 8% tuition increase.

NAME

ORG / UNION (list if for id. only)

CITY

STATE

EMAIL

(please fill out this coupon and return to [email protected])

* * * * * * * * * *


URGENT APPEAL FROM NAMBIATH VASUDEVAN

Dear friends and comrades!
Dear supporters of labour and democratic rights worldwide!
Dear delegates to the Mumbai World Conference against war, exploitation and precarious labour!

One month ago, on September 19 in South Africa, thousands of students went on struggle against the decision of Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, to allow university to increase their fees by 8%.

One month ago, dozens of thousands of South African students went on the streets to say "Fees must fall"!

Their struggle is legitimate.

But the government answer was a brutal repression. Police shot on students with rubber bullets AND arrested dozens of them.

Today, October 19, delegates from South Africa to the Mumbai World Conference sent us the following information: "all over the country, students are arrested". Delegates from South Africa sent us the leaflet of the students (see attached).

I urge you to take all possible initiatives to say, with our friends and comrades in South Africa: "RELEASE OUR COMRADES NOW!"

Already we have been informed of initiatives of solidarity from Belgium, Brazil, France, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, and Russia. We call upon you to broaden the campaign, to address South African embassies around the world to say:

Immediately stop repression against students!
Release our comrades now!
Fees must fall!

Please send copies of your messages or initiatives to the following e-mail: [email protected]

In struggle,

Nambiath Vasudevan
Organizing committee of the Mumbai World conference against war, exploitation and precarious labour (November, 18, 19 & 20, 2016)

RELEASE OUR COMRADES NOW.pdf
144K

[ckaihatsu]

Urgent Sign-On Letter: Free Student Leader Bonginkosi Khyanyile in South Africa!

[please repost widely]

Dear sisters and brothers:

Please find below an interview with Philani Gazuzu Nduli, an organizer of the campaign to free Bonginkosi Khanyile, a student leader of the FeesMustFall movement in South Africa who has been unjustly imprisoned since September 27, 2017. The interview was conducted by Dominique Ferre for the Tribune des Travailleurs (Workers Tribune) weekly newspaper in France.

Organizers of the campaign are asking that messages demanding freedom for Bonginkosi Khanyile be sent from student and activist organizations (and individuals) in the United States to the protest actions that will be held in major cities across South Africa this coming Friday, February 24.

There is little time left to gather endorsements, so please move swiftly. If you can, please ask your organization/s to send a message. All the background information you would need to prepare your own statement is included in the interview below. You can also add your name, and/or that of your organization, to the Sign-On Letter below, or you can adapt it as you see fit.

Please send your protest letters to <[email protected]>, with copies to <[email protected]>.

Many thanks,
Colia L. Clark
Koli Lindsay
Alan Benjamin

* * * * * * * * * *
SIGN-ON LETTER Demanding the Immediate Release from Jail of South African Student Leader BONGINKOSI KHANYILE

Dear Sisters and Brothers, Dear Comrades:

We -- the undersigned students, workers and activists in the United States -- join you as you march and rally in cities across South Africa to demand the immediate release from jail of FeesMustFall student leader Bonginkosi Khanyile.

We have been informed of the trumped-up charges against Brother Bonginkosi. His only crime is that he spoke out firmly and uncompromisingly in support of the demands of the powerful FeesMustFall movement in South Africa.

We find it reprehensible that a government that came to power in the aftermath of the mass mobilizations against Apartheid in South Africa -- mobilizations that were sparked by the magnificent student rebellions waged over decades of struggle -- should incarcerate, for more than 147 days no less, a student leader of the FeesMustFall movement.

We have been moved and empowered by the FeesMustFall movement, and we join you in demanding that the State and governmental authorities in South Africa free Brother Bonginkosi immediately and drop all the bogus charges against him!

Long live the international solidarity of students and workers!
Long live the FeesMustFall movement!
Freedom for Brother Bonginkosi Khanyile!

Initial Endorsers:

Alan Benjamin
Delegate to SF Labor Council
Mumbai Conference Continuations Committee
San Francisco, California

Colia L. Clark
Judicial Violence Symposium
Haiti-Guadeloupe Tour Committee
Mumbai Conference Continuations Committee
Harlem, New York

Koli Lindsay
Shine On Arrival
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

- - -


ENDORSEMENT COUPON
[ ] Please add my name to the list of endorsers of this Urgent Sign-On Letter demanding freedom for South African FMF student leader Bonginkosi Khanyile

NAME

ORG & TITLE (list if for id. only)

CITY

STATE

EMAIL

[please fill out endorsement coupon and return ASAP to <[email protected]>]


* * * * * * * * * *
Interview with Philani Gazuzu Ndulo:
FREE BONGINKOSI KHANYILE NOW!

(Interview published in Tribune des Travailleurs / Workers Tribune, France)

… Who is Bonginkosi Khanyile, and how was he implicated in the FeesMustFall (FMF) movement?

Bonginkosi Khanyile is a student at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). He was doing his final year in Public Management and Economics in 2016. He completed his course work with Cum Laude recognition. Bonginkosi has performed excellently in his academic activities. He has been involved in a number of struggles, being a critical voice in the FMF protest in 2015/16. He is also actively involved in the OutsourcingMustFall campaign, which led to his first arrest on the 4th of February 2016, from which he was released on warning the next day. So essentially he has been a soft target of the State due to his contribution to the struggle as a very powerful and fearless young fighter.

… Since what date has he been in jail, and what are the charges against him? In what way has the Court harassed him to "make an example" of him?

He was arrested on the 27th of September 2016, which was Day 2 of the DUT FMF shutdown. Today is the 147th day of his unjust incarceration.

The charges are added in almost every Court appearance, which is proof that these charges are just concocted so that they get convection. But as far as evidence is concerned, it's almost non-existent; they are trying to paint him as a terrorist rather than a protester. He was denied bail in the Magistrate two times. They explained that because there were so many students who came to support him at Court, this proves his influence over the student populace; meaning that if he is released, he will continue to incite violence since he broke his bail conditions after being released on warning during the OutsourcingMustFall campaign.

We also approached the High Court to appeal the Magistrate's decision. The high court agreed with the Magistrate's ruling denying him bail. We then approached the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to appeal for bail. The SCA dismissed the matter saying that it is not urgent. We are now in the process of approaching the Constitutional Court to appeal for bail, and thus we are awaiting to get a date for the appeal. In the previous appearance, they added six charges on the top of the initial eight. The eight charges are:

1. Illegal gathering
2. Public Violence
3. Possession of dangerous weapon
4. Possession of explosives
5. Inciting violence
6. Hindering traffic flow
7. Assault
8. Being a nuisance to the community

Regarding the other 6, I have to find out from his attorney what they are. But in total there are 14 charges.

… What are the mobilizations going on in Kwazulu and throughout South Africa to demand his immediate release -- and is the march going on next February 23?

We have been mobilizing to show support during his Court appearances to try and sway the Magistrate's and Judge's decision through public opinion. But that hasn't been working. We are now planning to organize protests in the major cities of South Africa to try and put pressure both on the State and on the government to release him now. Our biggest challenge is resources to organize (posters, transport, airtime, etc.)

We would appreciate if we could get donations and assistance in this regard. For now our energy is focused on mobilizing for the March which will take place on the 24th of February 2016 -- no longer on the 23rd.