UNESWA STUDENTS NEGLECTED

Sir,

If my memory serves me well, sometime this year, the minister of Labour and Social Security was questioned by Members of Parliament (MPs) why the paying of student allowances was always delayed. In his response, he said student allowances are always paid on time and the reason why students engage in strike action is because of non-payment of allowances and to his convenience, students in the University of Eswatini in particular, had not engaged in any significant strike action since 2022. This obviously gave MPs and citizens alike, the impression that whatever issues that existed in that period were a thing of that time and the question a tool used to look for trouble where there is none.

Boycotting

Fast-forward to a few months after the question was posed to the minister, students in the University of Eswatini have been sent home through a memo notifying them of the closure of the university after boycotting classes and striking over unpaid allowances which were promised to be paid by the end of September as per a communiqué via their chief electoral officer (EO) on the student group on Facebook.  Before I get to the core of this article, let me first jog your memory on the events of 2022 and the environment in the University of Eswatini. In 2022, while I was still a student myself, like half the student body currently enrolled there, strikes were usually the first or should I say second course of action in addressing dissatisfaction with whatever issues the student populace felt were an inconvenience to them.

The result of all these strikes and protests was always the same, yes you guessed right, the students were sent home and recalled after two or three weeks, only to continue from where they had left off, and the result, you guessed it right again, they would be sent back home. The consequence of this constant closure and reopening was an extended academic year which drained every ounce of energy to fight that students had left, not to mention the financial strain that the students found themselves under, as their 10-month allowance contract elapsed before the academic year came to its conclusion. It became apparent to them that neither government nor the university would bend to their demands; instead they would be sent home and left with agonising consequences to deal with.

Accountability

This brings me to the gist of my article; I am not here to point fingers but rather to touch on accountability. I’ll start with the students, who in this case are the most affected. Since half of the students who are currently enrolled in the university were there in 2022, and were aware what class boycotts and strike action would eventually result in, why did they go ahead with them? They are aware how the university operates and knew that the university would halt operations at the first sound of a revolutionary song and I do not need to mention that the closure will only result in an extended academic year which will continue beyond the elapse of their allowance contract with the ministry.

Affected

Was there no other way to work on the allowance issue while attending class, such that they decided it was better to go home than to attend classes on empty stomachs? Bear in mind that there are self-sponsored students who will also be affected by an extension to the academic year, yet the issue of allowances is of no concern to them. Who looks out for them when they are in distress too? Does the whole school come to a standstill as it does when government-sponsored students are not paid their allowances? Would it be a portrayal of selfishness and a lack of empathy for a self-sponsored student to be in disagreement with the decision to boycott classes? Couldn’t the students have been patient, just like how they might be forced to endure through a month or even months if the contract with the ministry elapses as a result of an extended academic year?

It would be a huge flaw for the students as a collective not to reflect on how they have contributed to the situation once the academic year is eventually stretched beyond the stipulated period, one in which the disbursement of allowances would have elapsed and the students would have no one to point their fingers at for going to class on empty stomachs. Now, on the issue of the ministry, the university was closed for a period of five months and has been open for a further six weeks, the question then is: What is the hold up in the payment of allowances after having so much time to work and process the payments? No one can be productive in the workplace without the payment of their salaries and same goes for the students in the university, and since I was also a student there, I know how hard it is to exist and function in that place without money and to be honest, the protests are valid.

Is it issues of bureaucracy that lead to the delay of the allowances or is it just a matter of not giving education the priority and importance it deserves? It is even worse because the protests now stem from a place of a broken promise, the students feel hard done and let down by the ministry for promising to deliver in its obligation to pay allowances at the end of September then not keeping its end of the bargain.

Blame

Since this allowances issue was raised by MPs, why then did the ministry not ensure that they are not found wanting on what they were criticised on? It all seems like both parties, students and the ministry, are playing the blame game and pointing fingers instead of finding ways to sort this issue that is threatening to undermine education and service delivery of the ministry. Each party has the responsibility to reflect on how they have contributed to the situation that they find themselves in and look at how such can be avoided in future. This is just but an open discussion and I do not view my outlook as a source of truth, so I am surely not above criticism too.

Gen Z of the 90s

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: