In the '70s towards the 1976 uprisings there were no differences between student issues and workers' issues. The same can be said for the 1984-86 student uprising, there was still a link between the student movement and the labour movement. Is this still the case after 1994 – the post apartheid era?
Sidima Nolutshungu , VWSA shop steward in Uitenhage, spoke to three student activists to find out their views on the issue. Sondisa Magajana is a former Pan Africanist activist, former Pan Africanist Student Movement (PASM) leader and now a Numsa shop steward. Claude Qavana is a SASCO National president and Xolani Mkunqwana is chairperson of the PASM Vista University Port Elizabeth branch.
In your view, have the changes that have taken place since 1984 had any impact on the student movement today?
Sondisa: In the year 1984 upwards, leadership incited the students to take an active role in fighting the system. They encouraged a great deal of militancy. That was during the time of the riots when that kind of leadership was needed.
Today students in my view are more tangled on policy matters. They have more responsibility to transform society. It's different from how we did it in the '80s.Their approach is too academic in dealing with issues.
Is that a bad thing?
Sondisa: No it is not, because of the conditions at play, the students are expected to act more responsibly and that is influenced by the nature of the struggle.
Has there been any link between the students' movement and the trade unions between 1984 – 1994?
Xolani: For me, most of what happened around 1984 I have heard from the papers, because at that time I was still relatively young. But it has been difficult for us in the ranks of PASM to maintain such a link especially at this level of the branch. We are linked to Nactu just as other formations would link with Cosatu. At Pasm it is our task to make sure that that link is vibrant.
Sondisa: The link has always been there but not on an extensive basis.
Let's take the events leading to the June 16, 1976. The students had taken the country by storm. But they were alone. Had workers been involved too, definitely we could have tilted the balance of forces more to our favour and 1994 could have been 1978 or so. The struggle could have been won earlier.
Even in 1984, the gap was there but was closing a bit.
In Paso we would say "turn every student into a worker and turn every worker into a student". This to us meant that through solidarity the gap between the students and the workers could be closed and the link tightened.
Claude: Before we are students, we are members of the community. The relationship and the link has been there but was not formally exploited. At the time of PESCO (after Cosas was banned), the consumer boycotts, for example, cemented this relationship through our actions.
Do you see this relationship and link still existing today?
Claude: Today this link does exist, for an example the recent anti-privatisation campaigns. As Sasco we supported Cosatu immensely in the actions and the actual campaigns. And in the privatisation of the education centres we were able to get support from Cosatu through the involvement of the public sector unions.
This relationship has grown from strength to strength and is becoming stronger. It just needs to be developed further. And we need to formally exploit it through working together.
Sondisa: The gap has not yet been closed. The labour movement (especially Numsa) should be working more closely with the students' movements regardless of their political convictions.
How do you see this being done?
Joint meetings should be called with students, to brief them on the developments in the struggle and most importantly to give guidance and direction.
And unions should give students support in their programmes. That process will enable the development of the kind of leadership and a cadre that would be able to lead the struggle of the working class.
The slogan, "COSAS educates them, SASCO graduates them, ANCYL mobilises them and the ANC organises them", demonstrates what I am saying.
It is only through hands-on engagement that we will be able to firmly close the gap and tighten the link.
Points for discussion:
Should student issues form part of the union's agenda and become issues for debate in the factory or in structural meetings of the unions, so that workers are informed of what is happening with their kids' education? You are on strike. You have to pay school fees at the end of the week. How will you get your child to accept your reason for not having the money for school fees? How will you get your child to be interested and supportive of your strike?