Bate Felix
Editorial Published in Vuvuzela on May 6, 2005.
Last week Wits’ student community joined the nation in celebrating Freedom day. Freedom is one thing that student are said to enjoy, freedom as embodied in the bill of rights.
Freedom to express themselves as Zingisani Nkamana did in our talkback column last week. Freedom to form associations like the SRC to look after their interests, even having the luxury of having their own government and ministers. Most importantly, the freedom to protest when their right to quality education is jeopardised.
To some students elsewhere in the continent, the freedom to exercise these rights is still a pipe dream. In some countries they are still considered, at best, a nuisance and an ungrateful lot that governments waste money on and, at worst, a bunch of radical vandals that must be crushed by all means.
Students at two public universities in Cameroon were once more reminded of this bitter reality last week while we were celebrating Freedom day.
Two students from the anglo saxon University of Buea were shot dead – one with a bullet to the chest and the other behind the head at close range - by the members of the special intervention unit of the riot police.
The students had joined their comrades of the University of Yaounde I who had been on a week-long strike, demanding better study conditions.
Among other things, they were asking for toilet facilities on campus, portable water, affordable food in the canteen, laboratory equipment, books for the libraries and the suppression of university registration fees.
A few weeks ago, we at Wits had the honour to host former African heads of state. They reiterated the importance of freedom and accountability in nascent democratic societies like ours and the role that tertiary institutions have to play in this process.
While we aspire to these ideals and dream of the day that this will become a reality, it is a shame to realise that once more, these might be just empty words.
A day before the tragic killing of these students, the university registrar claimed in an interview with the press that the students had sufficient avenues to channel their grievances, calling the students “vandals…who were just causing public nuisance”.
“And if somebody gets killed out there,” he warned, “God bless him”.
Well, God bless late Embwam Aloysius 3rd year environmental Science student and Gilbert Nforlem Geology Masters student. May their souls rest in peace.
To the rest of us, aluta continua. I am sure my comrades of the SRC will agree with me on this one.
