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 3^rd 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 2^nd 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.