R2K WC supports students’ call for free quality education!

R2K Western Cape will be joining the #FeesMustFall picket outside Parliament today. We support the students’ call for free quality education in South Africa. The country must stop the commodification of education. Education is a right, not a privilege reserved for academically elite or the wealthy. The ANC government promised free education in 1994 and the time to deliver on their promise has arrived.

We call on the government to engage meaningfully with the students about how to make free, accessible and quality education available to all.

R2K also support the issue of insourcing employment at universities across the country. The practise of outsourcing is the worst form of exploitation and must be viewed as modern day slavery as it legitimise low wages and unfair working conditions for the workers. As the workers continue to face exploitation, their right to proper benefits such as medical aid, including the right for their children to attend university for free is denied.

We also call on all parties to respect the students and the workers’ constitutional right to assemble, to express themselves and to protest peacefully without fear of interference or intimidation. We call on SAPS to fulfill their duty to protect the students’ right to protest unharmed. SAPS must not silence the students’ voices and respect their right to protest! The right to organise, protest and speak out is central to all community struggles for social justice!

Government keep your promise! Free Education! #FeesMustFall