DEAR GRIEVING STUDENT(STUDENT OF THE POOR CLASS) 20 years later, we are still not free. 20 years later, the life of the student is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of economically and financially challenges. 20 years later, the black majority students’ lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. 20 years later, the student is still languishing in the corners of South African society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we as an EFFSC (the most humanitarian organization) have come here to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to our nations capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every South African was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, Educational right, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that South Africa has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of colour are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, DUT and Government has given the student a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this university to remind student of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make a real promise of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of Educational justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of economically injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of Gods children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the student’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 2014 and 15 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the black student needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in South Africa until the rejected and excluded student is granted his citizenship educational rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of educational justice emerges. But there is something that we must say to our people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the South African, particularly student community must not lead us to a distrust of all SASCO and ANC people, for many of our SASCO (all colors. Red YELLOW, PINK GREEN SASCO ETC) brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, When will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the black student is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of educationally brutally exclusion. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the students basic mobility is from a smaller village, township to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by statement stating DEAR APPLICANT .WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR APPLICATION FOR FINANCIALLY AID WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF A SHORTAGE OF FUND YOURS SINCERELY ,NSFAS . We cannot be satisfied as long as a student in Mississippi cannot learn and a black student in South Africa believes he has nothing for which to fight for. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. We are not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great poverty chain and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow being discriminated by rich. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to kwa Mashu, go back to Newcastle, go back to Mkhomazi,mtubatuba,Nanda,uMlazi go back to Nongoma, go back to eastern cape,Nquthu,showe,PMB,mpumalanga,limpopo and all village and township of our south African , knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. We say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, we still have to fight. It is a dream deeply rooted in the black African dream. We have to fight that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. We have to fight that one day on the board room of DUT the management will be able to sit down and find system that we accommodate all student instant of creating the system that will reject the black majority student. We have to fight that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of economically injustice, sweltering with the heat of excluding the black student, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. We have to fight that NSFAS one day use their big English vocabulary to explain why they must accept all students instant of using their big words to explain why they rejected you and excluded you We have to fight students. We have to fight that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to class together, to stand up for economic freedom together, knowing that we will get free education one day. This will be the day when all of Gods children will be able to sing with a new meaning, My education, tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.” University where all generations will go to, from every educational institution, let freedom ring. And if South Africa is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the faculties of university. Let freedom ring from the residents of DUT. Let freedom ring from the financial aid department of DUT! Let freedom ring from the FACULTY ACCOUNTING AND INFORMATICS! Let freedom ring from the FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE! But not only that; let freedom ring from RESIDENTS OF DUT! Let freedom ring from the FACULTY OF ARTS AND DESIGN! Let freedom ring from the FACULTY OF ENGENEERING AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT Let freedom ring from the FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES Let freedom ring from the FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES Let freedom ring from every CAFETERIA and LABRARIES of DUT STUDENT. From every campus, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of Gods children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old students spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL ATLAST;. ALUTA CONTINUA!. SIBONGA KUBO BONKE OMAMA NOBABA ABALALA BENGADLILE NGENXA YOKUTHI INGANE ISESKOLEN, ABEFUNDISI KANYE NABO BONKE ABATHANDEZELA I FREE EDUCATION .INKOSI INIBUSISE .
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 16:37:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015