We are somewhere between 40 and 60 years old and generally successful. We are no longer only white. We tend to blame all our country’s woes on President Zuma and corruption – unaware that in doing so, we set the stage for a zero sum game. For us to win Zuma must lose, i.e. he goes to jail. For Zuma to win we must lose, i.e. we get to be ruled by a kleptocrat.
Some in my generation are hopeful that the anger of our students will somehow be deflected away from them to Zuma. They underestimate the sophistication of the student movement. It has identified the educational system as the problem and will not be distracted from their aim to transform it.
The entire system, and not only Zuma, is in their sights. This appals most of my generation. Not because we are strong, but because we feel helpless. When the students demand transformation, my generation fears redundancy. Transfixed by the students’ fiery rhetoric about Fanon, Biko and black consciousness, we make assumptions about what they really want. It’s what conflict does to the brain. What they really want is fertile ground to explore during mediation. It is not inconceivable that beyond their rhetoric and our fear, we are not as far apart from each other as it seems right now.
Then of course there are many non-protesting students who mostly come from privileged backgrounds. They too are traumatised about what is happening on our campuses, alienated and unsure about their futures. They should join the student movement and help define our national future. As for the protesters, they play directly in the hands of the system when they use violence.They should keep their eyes open for agents provocateur in their ranks.
How different could it be, however, if our generation apologises to all students (protesters and non-protesters) for doing far too little to address the time bomb called inequality in South Africa and the impact it has had on their education and their lives. Such an apology could begin to free my generation from our country’s shameful past. It will validate our students and help restore their trust in us. Of course, more than an apology is called for. The author and futurist HG Wells in 1935 said human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. To win this race our generation needs to step up as no generation has ever done before.
Here is only one idea. What if free high speed internet is brought to everyone, beginning with the poorest in our country. It could provide education and online training opportunities at a fraction of the costs of our current cumbersome and costly education system. Every third shack in Khayelitsha outside Cape Town already has a satellite dish for DSTV. Imagine every household receiving a basic computer such as the Raspberry Pi 3. They cost less than R700 and can easily be connected to a television. South African billionaires together are worth $31-billion dollars (R434-billion) according to Africa Ranking.
They need to look at the poor with different eyes to help fund a digital revolution. Someone recently, surreptitiously, set up high speed internet in Tshwane. What happened blew his mind. Within days the residents were going online, one after the other, like a runaway veld fire. He analysed the data, perhaps thinking they would be trawling porn sites. Guess what they were searching for: employment opportunities!
The data is revealing and exciting. Desperate to improve their lives, the residents are looking for opportunities and not for handouts. One more racist myth of my generation bites the dust. Free internet access can create nearly infinite opportunities to boost our economy as never before. Our institutions of learning may then expand to offer quality free online and virtual education for everyone in South Africa.
A model using cutting-edge technology to democratise education can be South Africa’s next gift to the world. It will be a fitting tribute for the students of 1976 and the students of 2016, who were willing to sacrifice their all, for dignity and the future of our nation. It is also a low cost, high reward solution for the crisis in our education system.
We must cast our dreams far beyond our president. It’s the only way to move our country forward. DM
Jacques Joubert is a mediator and vice-chair of Mediation in Motion, a not for profit organisation that connects mediators with their clients. He writes in his personal capacity.
Photo: A boy sits outside a shack with a television satellite dish mounted above a window in the informal shack settlement of Redhill, Cape Town, South Africa, 29 October 2008. Nestled in the mountains of Cape Town this settlement is in a television and radio shadow, out of reception from the national broadcasters airwave signals. The only form of television possible is by using a satellite dish which then has to be mounted as high as possible to receive a decent signal. Although most of the community is extremely poor and exist on very little, some homes and bars have satellite television. EPA/NIC BOTHMA