Fees protest ‘a just and noble cause’ but losing a year of study can’t be justified‚ Pityana tells UCT students

30 September 2016 - 13:50 By TMG Digital

It may be a “just and noble cause”‚ but “there can be no justification for compromising career prospects of completing students with offers to start their careers in 2017”. That’s the opinion of Sipho Pityana‚ the chair of Council at the University of Cape Town (UCT)‚ who on Friday called for its academic activities to resume on Monday.“It cannot be right that any of our students should lose a year of studying‚” he said.“I applaud our youth‚ and students in particular‚ for reminding us and reminding society in general that our constitutional promise cannot be negotiated away.”But‚ “unlike in the past‚ no one should risk not completing their education in order to be heard or realise a just and noble cause‚ as we are talking about”.“No one should risk criminalisation by engaging in acts of arson‚ damage to property and violence in exchanges with each other.“The institutions of higher learning are our institutions‚ they are our inheritance‚ they are our assets as a nation‚ and not those of the apartheid system‚ and not those of the colonisers. They are ours – we should protect them‚ defend them and jealously guard them in every legal way we can.”Pityana - who made headlines last month when‚ at the funeral of African National Congress stalwart of Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile‚ he made scathing comments about the organisation and its leader‚ Jacob Zuma - urged “students to allow the academic year to resume at UCT”.“However great our cause‚ nobody can justify throwing to waste the financial sacrifice of families that have paid for students due to write exams at the end of this year.”– TMG Digital..

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