*SAUS statement on Prof Jansen's narrow articulations regarding building universities in Mpumalanga & Northern Cape *
The South African Union of Students (SAUS) views the recent remarks by Professor Jonathan Jansen as narrow and unfortunate to say the least. Jansen continues to expose his intellectual laziness through his narrow assessment of society. To suggest that Government' s commitment to building two Universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape is not necessary clearly shows that Jansen is detached from societal realities. The narrow-minded Professor fails to understand that the demand for higher Education in the country has increased tremendously thus Universities such as UJ are pressured each year to take on extra students than anticipated. He further fails to take stock to the fact that the majority of our people (predominantly poor and working class) in the country still do not have access to higher education. Whilst Jansen is correct to suggest that more funding is required to fund existing Universities, this should not dilute the call for the creation of universities within Mpumalanga and Northern Cape. Our view remains that increased funding coupled with the building of universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape is necessary to assist in increasing access to free quality education in our life time. Jansen goes further in his insanity to state that 'the talented students from these two provinces have been EASILY accommodated in the nearest universities for decades'. This is an irresponsible statement to make taking into consideration that a vast majority of learners from poor and working class backgrounds are financially unable to 'easily' travel to the nearest towns or neighbouring provinces, before being confronted with the reality of limited accommodation within these institutions. Thus the numerous student strikes nationally, Mr VC. By creating institutions within provinces it makes it easier for working class students to access institutions of higher learning therefore increasing the skills base of the country. We encourage society to ignore Jansen's narrow views as they don't seek to contribute to the broader transformational agenda of our progressive government. If anything they serve to hinder increased access to education by the poor. What is crucial to note from Jansen's articulations is that certification does not translate into wisdom and consciousness if it is not coupled with activism. As SAUS we will continue to lobby all progressive forces in society towards the building of Universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape since we understand the current material conditions of society, and the need to increase skills within our developmental state. For more information contact: Sandile Phakathi 0781958344 Ngwako Mokgotho 0769204255 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
