Where education and religion merge
By Katleho
Morapela
Whilst University
of the Free State students and workers were protesting against the outsourcing
of workers, chaos erupted. Many were emotionally
distorted, physically injured, and arrested.
According to Edwin
Moilwa 3rd year (BA Media Studies and journalism) student the protests were not only based on
outsourcing of workers it was about prioritizing black people’s needs, bringing
an end to the injustices experiences by the marginalized groups. “As students
of the University of the Free State we took part in the outsourcing protests
because those people are our parents. We can relate to their grievances we all
know that they earn peanuts their struggle is our struggle” said Moilwa.
During the course
of the protests one group of students and local church members resorted to
praying seminars. This has however caused rage amongst some students. On the
one hand others deemed it as turning a blind eye on the injustices faced by the
majority in this university and optimizing the church’s public image at the
cost of black people’s pain. While others deemed it as a possible solution to
calm protesters and to bring an end to violence.
“Despite being a
devoted Christian I was angry. Yes, we
are in need of spiritual guidance yet above that we need physical solutions” said
Moilwa. That was his response to the question of how prayer sessions helped
students during the protest week. On the other hand some felt conflicted and
deemed all acts of the protests week unfruitful. Kealeboga Masega (BSocSC Human
and Societal Movement) student is of the view that students should have not
involved themselves in workers affairs to begin with. “Students involvement in
the outsourcing protest was unnecessary, what have we gained out of it even
prayer sessions did not yield any fruits. The whole protests only resulted in
chaos,” said Masega.
Lebogang Lerumo 2nd
year theology student supports the idea of bringing on board prayer sessions with
the aim of uniting students and different racial groups during violent
protests. He nonetheless acknowledges that student’s concerns regarding issues
of financial constraints, transformation and language policies on campus calls
for more practical intervention from the government and the university
management.
