“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various way. The point, however, is to change it.” Karl Marx
South African Students Congress (SASCO) held its National Working Committee (NWC) meeting online today, the 14th of April 2020. The NWC meeting that would have convened physically as it would traditionally do, today sat online not out of its making but conditions transmitted to us. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has not only besieged the world but presented the world, our organisation included with the opportunity to make new ways of getting its business executed.
As an organisation, we take pride of all workers who are at the forefront of defeating the faceless enemy. We appreciate the donations being made by various organisations, families and we call on all Vice-Chancellors and College Principals to join the call by the President. We wish their helping hand could be extended to helping end the capitalist crisis confronting the world.
A special word of gratitude to the People’s Republic of China and the Cuban government and its people for extending their hand in ending this pandemic.
COVID-19 in South Africa
The NWC reflected on the global pandemics on our country, the health system, and the economy and education sector. The organisation expressed its fear of post-COVID-19 society that would have widened inequality in our country, increase youth and graduate unemployment and deepen poverty levels. SASCO calls on all progressive forces in the country to actively participate in the dialogues that will lead to policy shift to respond to the post-COVID-19 challenges.
The history of world wars (I & II), teaches us that, when the wars had died the new economic systems are introduced and in all these post-war inventions of a new society, the African continent was a spectator. The COVID-19 will lead to the introduction of a new world order and as students of South Africa, we will be proactive in the rebuilding phase of the world.
e-Learning and way forward
The South African Students Congress stands opposed to the E-Learning strategy as the only way to save academic year. We are convinced that the majority of our students rely on institutional and residence Wifi for connectivity. Even with the proposal to zero-rate some academic sites and give out free gadgets to the poor students from working class backgrounds, the research for majority of our students extend beyond the already available secondary data in our blackboards and there is no clear plan on how these gadgets will reach remote areas of our country.
The TVET Sector is not even mentioned by government on how it plans to finish the academic year. This exposes our long-held assertion that the TVET Sector is treated as a mini-university and is not capacitated enough to be institutions of choice. We believe that there should be proper scenario planning to rescue the TVET Sector academic year, particularly for classes of practice.
The Post Schooling Education and Training sector will need a catch up plan and we will be submitting our recommendations to government for implementation. The recommendations include but not limited to:
• A mixed methodology of teaching and learning. This will involve both E-Learning and contact learning.
• Devise means to return students to their respective residences.
• Allow students who wish to deregister or study from home to do so.
• Policy deviation by NSFAS to cover the students who may wish to deregister.
• Scraping of all forms of exclusion in the academic year 2021.
• Redo the academic calendar, to begin from 15 May to mid-December 2020.
IMF LOAN
SASCO rejects the plans by Minister Tito Mboweni to get a loan from International Monetory Fund (IMF) to aid the South African economy. As the organisation, we have always viewed the IMF, World Bank, International Criminal Court and all other Bretton Woods Institutions as bodies established to sustain capitalist mode of production. The loan conditions from IMF, which typically restrict social spending, would impose unto us a burden of having to account for all our fiscal policies and delay the successful implementation of National Democratic Revolution.
We call on Treasury to approach the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) for a loan to finance some of our social interventions needed to aid the people of our country and its economy. We call on the Governor and minister of finance to make use of our constitution which provides for the SARB to lend the state money for developmental functions.
Organisational Building and Strengthening
The organisation has since launched online lectures to capacitate our members, attract new members and participate in contemporary issues in our country. We will be continuing with our online lectures every week from Monday to Wednesday. The NWC resolved to only host online lectures through the SASCO NEC Facebook page (SASCO NATIONAL). Structures are advised to suggest topics to be covered by the political lectures.
The NWC has resolved not to appoint Task Teams in various Provinces where the NEC had taken a decision to dissolve Structures neither does it undermine the urgency this task deserves. The NWC has taken note of the need to conclude the consultation process for purpsoses of building a hegemonic and United organization.
The NWC has resolved to appoint Cde Athenkosi Mabona as the National Organizer and Cde Luvuyo Barnes as Media and Communication Liaison officer. These appointments are made to boost the fighting capacity of the organisation and strengthen Secretary General’s Office and Presidency respectively.
Issued by SASCO NWC
Bamanye Matiwane
President
079 026 5759
Or
Buthanani Ngwane
Secretary General
073 257 5677