The South African Democratic Student Movement has joined forces with the Socialist Student Movement, Economic Freedom Fighters student command, Radical Student Movement, Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania and other independent student representatives of students in higher learning institutions, in a campaign that seeks to put pressure towards government until students’ needs are met.
“On Monday, 02 March 2015 we will officially launch the campaign where we will hand over a memorandum to Dr Blade Nzimande, demanding an immediate scrapping of outstanding fees and registration of all needy students. We shall demand education that is a right than this privilege and an end to casualisation of labour. The campaign will be in the form of a sit-in at the Department of Higher Education ’till students decide otherwise,” said Mr Sthembiso Ka Shandu, Gauteng SADESMO leader.
This is a first time in the history of student politics for these movements to decide on forming one strong force and fighting for one common goal.
“All students expected to assemble at Church square (Pretoria) at 10am and march from Church Square at 11am to the Department of Higher Education, to submit a memorandum and do a sit-in. The campaign is set to be a national campaign but its initial start will be in Gauteng Province. This will happen until the education minister responds to our memorandum. These political student organisations have pledged not to gamble with the lives of the students; safety of students is our priority. It is our initial idea to make this campaign a peaceful one and well organised,” continued Mr Shandu.
“We agreed that no student should be worrying about fees when we are in one of the most corrupt countries, where R700 billion disappears with no trace and R30 billion have been wasted on consultants,” concluded Mr Shandu.
Issued by: Mr Sthembiso Ka Shandu,
Gauteng SADESMO leader, 078 9164 200.
Or
Mr Sizwe Simelane,
SADESMO National Secretary, 0730221064
