Imagine being a "Born Free" and being regaled throughout your formative years with tales of the struggle against apartheid, of its heroes, its indignities and its redemption. "Now the future is yours, my son, my daughter." Then you arrive at a university and find a place of privilege and exclusion. Everything is expensive - accommodation, books, food, let alone fees. Thousands of your school contemporaries can't afford to be with you.That "glorious future for a golden generation" you were promised was a great big lie.To make matters worse, the campus - being an old institution full of tradition - is crammed with relics from the bad old days.Most of us can see how this situation might be infuriating. So the student uprising is not only about fees but about a sense of betrayal.The ANC government likes to talk about transformation and how much money it has spent on education. But the truth is that it hasn't achieved much. It has squandered billions on crony tenders and pursued idiotic ideas such as outcomes-based education, but has completely neglected to bring steady, sensitive, intelligent change to tertiary education institutions. It just let them get on with it, statues and all.And, of course, a mountain of state resources have been embezzled by the cadres.Little wonder that energetic young people, faced with such betrayal, lash out in anger.Youthful yells of righteous hashtag anger, if not handled empathetically and courageously, can easily get out of hand.Yesterday, after strong-arm police intervention at a Wits protest, the rage spilled onto the streets; a bus was set ablaze, cars were stoned and a shop was looted.But the government didn't seem to think this was worth commenting on.The police have said they are ready to take even stronger action.This can surely not end well.The turmoil on our campuses is entirely of the government's making and it is time it got serious about fixing its mess...