With only four months to go this year, what is the inevitable uncertainty that awaits us? With a still-increasing Covid caseload, how must Africa and its battered economies learn to co-exist with the virus? A half-year report. 



With the world attempting to return to normalcy in the second half of the year, global experts suggest the worst is not over yet.



Mid-year, globally, there had been over 15 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 with more than 600,000 deaths. 



Speaking from Geneva, in June, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted we’re not out of the woods yet.



“Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally, it is worsening,” he warned.



With North America having, cumulatively, the highest incidence of Covid-19, globally, with over six million infections mid-year, Africa was at the bottom of the ranks, comparatively, with almost 600,000 confirmed cases as of July. But with fast-surging figures, the impact of the virus on the continent continues to have dire effects.



“Looks like the month of August will be the most devastating in terms of new cases and deaths,” says Dr Titus Divala, a medical doctor and epidemiologist based in Malawi.



This spike in cases will no doubt worsen the current burden on Africa’s already ailing public health systems, and in particular, will limit the attention on all other diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.



As a result, this may lead to an unprecedented increase in preventable death, which Divala calls “Covid-19 collateral damage”.



In July, WHO acknowledged there was evidence emerging that Covid-19 is airborne. However, the organization emphasized that more research was “urgently needed”. Airborne transmission means that new infections could accelerate farther and faster.



“Until now, airborne transmission has never been on the cards. Our understanding from Chinese Covid-19 transmission dynamics data, supported by a body [of] evidence from SARS, MERS, and [previous] coronaviruses has always been that the virus spreads [via] droplets which are way bigger than aerosols [necessary for airborne transmission],” Divala says.



Experts like him caution that the emerging evidence must be taken seriously to re-orient prevention messaging before it’s too late. Particularly in Africa, where many socio-economic issues exist.



The Africa Covid-19 Community Vulnerability Index (Africa CCVI), developed by American development body, Surgo Foundation, outlines the 10 most vulnerable regions across the continent, identifying hotspots in six countries. They include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has four of Africa’s most vulnerable regions, and then, Malawi, with two, along with Ethiopia, Uganda, Cameroon, and Madagascar. 



South Africa has emerged as one of the world’s top hotspots for the virus.



By the third week of July, the country recorded well over 350,000 cases and 5,000 deaths with 180,000 recoveries. The continent’s second biggest economy is currently on Level 2 of lockdown restrictions.



And then, there are the myriad unanswered questions: how long before a vaccine is developed?



At the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology, says Africa may likely see a Covid-19 vaccine in the first quarter of 2021.



In July, Madhi, who is also leading a vaccine trial at the university, told Reuters that the ‘ChAdOx1 nCoV-19’ experimental vaccine is one of 19 currently being tested on humans, globally. The vaccine is also being trial-ed in Brazil by scientists from Oxford University in the United Kingdom.



While trials are still in the early stages, business must go on. The second half of 2020 may see more firms attempting to return to normal operations. In terms of the education sector, South Africa has decided to continue with the academic year with some pupils going back to school as others continue classes online.



In July, via Presidential Address, Kenya announced that the 2020 academic year has been completely lost. Schools are expected to resume only in early 2021.



In terms of industry, the challenge that remains is how to rebuild business over the next few months. All businesses will need to become more agile while adopting new technology and online marketplaces. But there are opportunities in the chaos and Covid-19 has accelerated change in building a new reality and navigating the risks as the pandemic rages on.



Undoubtedly, Covid-19 may be with us longer than we anticipate. However, there is hope that African experts will offer new solutions on how to co-exist with the virus, minimize transmissions, and keep our economies and societies running. For now, corporate Africa is preparing itself.



Tshandu Ramusetheli, a Senior Specialized Finance Transactor at Investec in Johannesburg, reiterates that to co-exist with the virus, businesses will need to re-engineer their offerings and adapt to new ways of doing work.



“Most companies (in the services sector) are realizing that their employees can work effectively from home. The downtime that employees would have spent traveling to and from work, coffee breaks in the office, lunches, and general ‘chats around the floor’ have all been replaced by employees spending more uninterrupted time in front of their computers in the comfort of their homes,” he says. “The effect of this is that employees tend to be more productive working from home. Smart employers will capitalize on this and introduce employee incentives for productivity, such as flexi-work where employees work four business days out of five.”



With more focus on the home, hospitals are also now gearing towards the home-based model of treatment for milder cases. FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 entrepreneur and list-maker Ogutu Okudo from Kenya resorted to exercising and making her own home-based treatments when she tested positive for Covid-19. She ate foods such as onion soup, wasabi, fruits, and took Vitamin C. In five days, she had fully recovered and got tested again with negative results.



“They say corona isn’t ‘real’ until you know someone who has gone through it, and in my case, that person happened to be me,” she tells FORBES AFRICA. With nations exiting lockdowns and lifting restrictions around the world and Covid-19 continuing on its unwavering rampage, the second wave of the pandemic may soon be upon us. The question is: how much longer before a well-conceived tested cure that is available to all?



&#8211; By Karen Mwendera

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The Corona Conundrum

South Africa is very much in the early phase of the pandemic, says expert.



South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) announced on Tuesday during a virtual press conference that it will begin the continent’s first clinical trial for a Covid-19 vaccine. Leading the South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial is Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology at Wits University and Director of the South Africa Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA).



“This is a landmark moment for South Africa and Africa at this stage of the Covid-19 pandemic. As we enter winter in South Africa and pressure increases on public hospitals, now more than ever, we need a vaccine to prevent infection by Covid-19,” said Madhi at the launch.



“We began screening participants for the South African Oxford 1 Covid-19 vaccine trial last week and the first participants will be vaccinated this week,” he added.



Speaking to FORBES AFRICA, Martin Veller, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits, believes South Africa is very much in the early phase of the pandemic.



“We will be seeing a lot more cases. And that is already reflected in the significant increase of the numbers that we’ve seen in the country.”



South Africa’s total number of cases has surpassed 100,000 with the death toll reaching 1,991.



The South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial will start tomorrow, June 24.



“2,000 people will be entered into the trial. It’s important to note that the trial is largely going to be a placebo-controlled trial. One needs to see firstly what the safety of the vaccine is but much more importantly whether it’s effective,” says Veller.



He further stated that the participants will be followed for a whole year and the results will be analysed intermittently.



The institution is also collaborating with other institutions on the vaccine trial.



“Because of the expertise that Professor Madhi, his colleagues at Oxford University very early on contacted him to take part in the development and the trials of this vaccine,” says Veller.



Wits will also be collaborating with the Jenner Institute at Oxford University on the trial.

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2,000 Participants To Be Entered Into South Africa’s First Covid-19 Vaccine Trial

There is no doubt that after 16 years playing in Europe, Steven Pienaar could have hung up his boots at the end of last season and drifted quietly towards a luxurious retirement from the game.
It was intriguing to many then that he instead signed a one-year contract with South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions BidVest Wits, with the option for a further season if both parties agree, to prolong his career in what is for him a low-key environment compared to where he has played before.
As recently as 2014, while still at Everton in the English Premier League, Pienaar was reportedly earning around $5 million a year through salary and sponsorship, and he is arguably South Africa’s richest current sportsman.
So he is not doing it for the money, even if FORBES AFRICA understands he is on $35,000 a month at Wits, but rather for the sporting opportunity to fulfil an ambition he had before leaving Ajax Cape Town for Europe in 2001.
He had been close to a move to Orlando Pirates when he was released by Everton at the end of the 2015/16 season, but instead chose to link-up with long-time mentor David Moyes at Sunderland.
That final season in England saw the side relegated and Pienaar released again. This time he says he wanted to make good on his commitment to return to the PSL and was impressed most by Wits coach Gavin Hunt.
“There were other options but, when I met with the coach, his interest in my family touched me,” says Pienaar.
“It’s an honor to play for the champions and I wanted to play in Africa [the African Champions League], so the option was on the table and it was an easy decision for me to make.”
“I have worked under top coaches in the past and coming to work with coach Hunt gives me an opportunity to work with a champion coach, a great coach. He might even help me if I want to become a coach!”
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Wits have had a difficult start to the new campaign and Pienaar, the former captain of South Africa, has been used in short bursts as his 35-year-old body is not up to playing 90 minutes on a regular basis, especially on the at times heavy pitches of the PSL that are nothing like the “carpets” he played on in Europe.
Pienaar says he is relishing a role as mentor to young players off the pitch and it is during these difficult times for the club that his experience may be most key.
“I want to help the young players as much as I can,” he says, adding that Hunt and Wits made it clear they valued his contribution on and off the pitch.
“For me the most important thing was to join a club where I feel welcome and appreciated. That was important. I wanted to come to South Africa and finish the last few seasons of my career here.”
“Coming from the [English] Premier League, I have spent the last 10 years there, so it is going to be a different level and I have to get used to it as quickly as possible.”
Pienaar says that walking into a squad that has just won the league is no easy feat and the fact that they have not started the season well provides added pressure.
“I’ve joined a club that has just won the league, so it is going to be a challenge for me to show what I can do, because joining the defending champions is not always easy.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/sport/2017/11/29/grounded-super-eagle-wants-fly-next-world-cup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Grounded Super Eagle Who Wants To Fly To The Next World Cup</a>
Despite all his achievements at European clubs like Ajax Amsterdam, Borussia Dortmund, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland, Pienaar says he still gets nervous before games.
“As a player, you always have butterflies and if you don’t, you don’t love the sport,” he says. “It’s part and parcel of the game and playing in Europe so long, there will be a lot of eyes on me, but I will just have to take it in my stride.”
Pienaar is determined to get the most out of the last one or two seasons of his playing career, but it will be nothing like the demands of the Premier League, and that suits him just fine, though he would never give less than his best for Wits.
“There is always pressure in the Premier League. Cameras are always on you, the fans want you to be playing your absolute best every match and the coach will expect nothing less than 100% effort,” he says.
“It’s definitely the toughest league I have played in. It’s so quick. The tempo is high all game. I tried to slow it down when I could, but sometimes you just have to run until you drop.”
“Other leagues, Italy for example, are more technical, but to me are not as exciting.”
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Pienaar has readily admitted that the happiest time of his career was at Ajax Amsterdam, where the style of football suited him and he was able to express himself on the pitch.
It was a wrench when he left for an ill-fated move to Dortmund in 2006, where he spent just a single season and never connected with the club. His career was revived by much happier times at Everton and he says he does not regret making the difficult decision to leave Holland.
“I was playing my best in Amsterdam and I enjoyed myself the most. It’s a club and a league that allows you to really express yourself as a creative player and I think I was at my best there. I also really enjoyed the culture and the lifestyle.”
“[But] I don’t think you can have regrets. People always ask me, why did you leave Amsterdam, why did you go to Germany, why did you leave South Africa? You make the decision you think is best at the time and some work out, some don’t.”
“It was a lot of pressure and sometimes I wished I could just go back to South Africa and be with my family. Live a quiet life.”
Finally, after 16 years, he is now back in the PSL and with that pressure he felt in Europe largely lifted, can look forward to simpler times.
“I am happy because my daughter and mum haven’t seen me play for a long time,” he says. &#8211; Written by Nick Said

Pienaar Back Home and Hungry For More Success

A year ago, students were hailed as heroes when they fought for free education. With spirit, focus and a determination to pull together in a common cause, they won an important battle on the slopes of the Union Buildings to freeze university fee increases for 2016.
Fast forward 365 days and that victory is a fleeting memory overshadowed by 831 arrests  that represent a temporary truce that has been broken. This year, students radicalized. Violence escalated on campuses and out onto the streets. In Braamfontein, Johannesburg, students from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) switched from revolutionaries to petty criminals. In the name of free education, buses were set alight and shops were looted.
In Cape Town, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech was delivered to the thud of stun grenades outside Parliament. Students also began throwing petrol bombs and smashing police vehicles and library windows.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5489" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FeesMustFall_Jay-Caboz-11-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
It followed a police crackdown where students were placed under curfew, had their dorms raided and leaders arrested. It led to 831 arrests and 411 criminal cases, says South Africa’s Acting National Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Charles Phahlane.
“There are those who have bombarded us with calls to withdraw police officials from university campuses. We reiterate that it is the violence and criminal acts being committed on those campuses that have invited the presence of the SAPS,” says Phahlane
Former Wits SRC leader, Shaeera Kalla, was hit nine times in the back with rubber bullets while she stood with her hands raised while protesting on campus. Police maintain the crowd had, prior to this, interrupted a test and torn up papers.
Former Wits student leader, Mcebo Dlamini, was detained and held in prison for three weeks before successfully appealing and being released on R2,000 bail.
In light of the extreme nature of this year’s protests, public sympathy has waned. Phahlane maintains the police have reacted with minimal force even when “attacked and pelted with stones”.
Still, the cries of the students involved in the #FeesMustFall movement remain unchanged – free education for all.
“Conversations that were once relegated strictly to the humanities are spilling over into other departments, faculties and disciplines in ways that will hopefully consolidate them in the future, as repositioning and reconstructive efforts begin to take root,” says Brian Kamanzi, a writer and electrical engineering master’s student at the University of Cape Town.
“Currently, a Bachelor of Science program at the University of Cape Town could cost as much as R50,000 ($3,700), a steep price for education in a country where the average annual income is R88,000 ($6,600).”
“Over the years, enrolment in the country’s 26 higher education institutions has steadily grown and in 2017 it is expected to reach 1,053,420. While the intake of students considerably increased, the government’s contribution to universities’ income decreased by 18.4 percent, with the total state budget for public higher education accounting for only 0.74 percent of the gross domestic product.”
Kamanzi argues an overwhelming number of students need loans for education and are forced into debt cycles.
Concerns have also been raised that the students lack unity.
“This has been particularly disconcerting, as the discourse on inclusion of black radical feminism and representation of women and queer activists in leadership structures and media encounters has visibly given way to popular male figures and increasingly centralized leadership,” he says.
Kamanzi also defends the violent acts of students, saying that they were in retaliation.
“What followed was mass arrests, internal expulsions and court interdicts, including denial of bail in some cases; more than 830 protesters have been arrested since February. At the same time the media has not properly reported on the violence against student protesters, which has escalated to incidences of sexual assault by private security and the police.”
Amid all this, universities struggled to keep their doors open and complete the academic year. The country is also facing a $400-million graduate brain drain.
“Progress in negotiations across the campuses is difficult as many protesters are in jail, suspended or expelled. The success of the movement shall be determined, I believe, by its ability to move beyond the campuses and involve broader society,” says Kamanzi.
The question now is not how these protests will end, but if they will end.

The Valiant Cause Losing Its Way

Three, two, one…
That was the chilling countdown from over 300 students as they prepared to hurl rocks at private security on the steps of the Great Hall of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
It came after days of running battles between police and students and eventually spilled onto the streets of Braamfontein in Johannesburg; a bus burned and shops were smashed and looted. The skirmishes got so out of hand that a rubber bullet was fired into the face of a priest. These were scenes reminiscent of the dark days before democracy two decades ago.
There was a nationwide shutdown, from the colonnades of the University of Cape Town (UCT) in the south to the deserted halls of the University of Mpumalanga in the north. For a second consecutive year, angry students, with their #FeesMustFall movement, launched a howl of outrage with demands for free education.
<div id="attachment_5362" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5362" class="size-medium wp-image-5362" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FeesMustFall_Oct10_JC-18-300x206.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="206" />Naitonwide student protest for free education. Using the #feesmustfall slogan.</div>
“We have nothing to lose. At the end of the day, we can barely afford to be here. My mom had to sell her car and downsize her house for me to be here. It’s tough out here and now [Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib] wants to police us if our calls aren’t legitimate,” says Malwande Mhambe, a final year international relations and political studies student.
The protest has escalated since 2015. It has evolved into a call for so-called decolonized universities that students say favour the privileged white middle-class.
“It is something that the youth has been calling for over 20 years now. We want more black students to be able to come to university and to have a better chance of participating in the economy,” says Busisiwe Seabe, leader of #FeesMustFall.
The violent campus backlash this year was sparked by Minister of Higher Education and Learning Blade Nzimande saying ‘those who can pay, must’ at the close of the Fees Commission, a government enquiry set to tackle the issue.
“We strongly condemn the actions of striking students who clearly do not want to see the completion of the academic program. They continue to disrupt and intimidate students who want to continue with their studies and in so doing deny the majority of students their right to higher education,” says Nzimande.
According to Statistics South Africa, university fees have soared by 80% since 2008. Government capped university increases at 8% for 2017. Nearly R300 billion ($21 billion) was allocated to education in 2016, making up 20% of the budget. This is almost double the amount spent on health.
<div id="attachment_5373" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5373" class="size-medium wp-image-5373" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FeesMustFall_Oct10_JC-19-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />FeesMustFall</div>
#FeesMustFall The Tip Of The Iceberg
The students may call for free education, but columnist Max du Preez, argues what has developed is an “extreme race rhetoric”, whereby a “legitimate struggle against whiteness and white privilege is being overtaken by a populist assault on white citizens.”
“It’s time to face the reality. The ‘revolution’ on our campuses is not primarily about university fees any longer. Nor is it about the ‘decolonization’ of the curricula. The subtext, the unspoken agenda, is beginning to look more and more like an effort to create a mini Arab Spring moment and to turn the entire post-1994 dispensation on its head,” Du Preez writes in his column.
Many of the ‘Fallists’, including Wits Student Representative Council’s secretary-general Fasiha Hassan, claim that they are only reacting to police brutality. It is believed that a minority have been fanning the flames of destruction, perpetuated by media coverage.
The rubble and burning debris, on the streets of Braamfontein and on campus, tell their own story.
“Some of these elements, like the Wits protest leader Mcebo Dlamini and UCT’s Chumani Maxwele, are clearly narcissists playing revolution,” says Du Preez.
Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, a former journalist herself, says the protest needs to be tackled head on, without violence.
“We shouldn’t be shooting bullets at kids. We should have our police force with really good shields at all campuses protecting people’s right to study.”
Public policing has overreacted and inflamed confrontation.
“There is no other way out of this. What we have seen is negotiation after negotiation; the goal posts get moved every single time. It’s a deliberate strategy because people don’t want a resolution, they want a revolution and the challenge is you can’t assume people are acting in good faith,” she says.
The fight for free education is fuelled by frustration.
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$400-Million Brain Drain
While the government scrambles to find money, universities say they can’t survive without fees. South Africa faces an even greater threat should universities close down – a crippling R5.6-billion ($400-million) brain drain if graduates are not allowed to finish the year.
The University of Pretoria’s Roula Inglesi-Lotz, Associate Professor of Economics, and Heinrich Bohlmann, Senior Lecturer, believe that the economy stands to lose $400 million if 90% of its 80,000 graduates do not take up positions next year. This is based on an Australian-based economic model designed by the University of Pretoria, in collaboration with global think tank, the Centre of Policy Studies.
Max Price, UCT Vice Chancellor, says if the university does not continue academic activity, it will have to close for the rest of the year. It means thousands of students expecting to work in 2017, including 400 of 4,500 medical students, will not graduate and create a black hole for the economy.
<div id="attachment_5374" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5374" class="size-medium wp-image-5374" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FeesMustFall_Oct10_JC-21-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />FeesMustFall</div>
The University of Stellenbosch is also staring debt in the face. If it does not increase its fees, it will lose R50 million ($3.5 million) in academia and another R80 million ($5.6 million) on accommodation.
Students who have outstanding loans face hard times. Mmakatleho Sefatsa, a 19-year-old second-year education student and her family’s first graduate, is in over her head with R70,000 ($5,000) debt.
“Even if you don’t protest, at the end of the year the university is still going to send you a letter to say: ‘look you haven’t paid for two years, you have to leave’.”
Sefatsa is part of the missing middle – she is not poor enough to qualify for financial aid, and not wealthy enough to pay for her education.
The government plans to restructure fee payments based on students’ wealth: households that earn less than R120,000 ($8,500) a year won’t pay; the government will subsidize the difference in fee increases for the middle class, or missing middle, between R120,000 ($8,500) and R600,000 ($42,500); while the affluent will pay.
Undergraduate tuition fees at Wits can reach almost R60,000 ($4,200) a year.
Back at Wits, classes have continued under duress and with heavy police presence. The university’s spokesperson, Shirona Patel, says they will not give up.
“We need to finish the academic program this year and we need to have exams written. This will be our key focus for the next two weeks. Despite yesterday’s disruptions, we still had about half of our classes going and we’ll keep going every day until we get the academic program back on track.”
UCT, the University of Pretoria, and the Tshwane University of Technology, attempted to keep their doors open. Threats and escalating violence forced them to shut down.  Negotiations appear to have ground to a stuttering, and painful, halt.
“Access to higher education, particularly for the poor is everyone’s concern and therefore all stakeholders must play an active role in saving our 2016 academic program. Ongoing negotiations cannot stand in the way of classes resuming, dialogue is the only answer, and intimidation and violence will never address the legitimate concerns of students,” says Nzimande.
With negotiations stuttering and the academic year coming to an end, time is running out.
Why Free Education Won’t Favor The Poor
Students want free education, but do any of them know what it means.
Nico Cloete, Director of the Centre for Higher Education Trust at the University of the Western Cape, says students are asking the wrong questions.
“There is no such thing as ‘free higher education’. Universities are very expensive. Rather, the issue is who pays what and when? Secondly, international research shows that ‘there is broad agreement among economists of higher education funding that government subsidies are regressive, meaning subsidies favor the rich’. According to Nicholas Barr from the London School of Economics, public universities often argue that low or no tuition fees provide greater equality of educational opportunity, but that the overwhelming subsidy in public universities accrues to students from middle- and high-income families,” he says.
Cloete is one of the academics who submitted documents to the Fees Commission.
“The question to be addressed by the Fees Commission should have been: What is required for a sustainable higher education system with affordability for those who qualify for access?”
Higher education is seen as a ladder into the affluent middle class. The World Bank reports that South Africa has the highest private return to tertiary education. University graduates are three to five times more likely to find a job than high school graduates.
Cloete argues, of the million students who enter school, about 110,000 will enrol at university and 55,000 will graduate after five years. But, 45% of all undergraduates, and 70% of the poor on student financial aid, never graduate.
“So, the issue is not whether there is enough money for free tertiary education, the issue is to fix the undergraduate university and the college systems, provide vastly expanded education and training opportunities, put in place a modern progressive graduate tax (instead of an outdated loan scheme) and stop raiding the treasury. While the Fees Commission and the media are looking at money, the issue is political and systemic.”
The road will be long and arduous. It will take another three years to successfully transform university structures and integrate reform into the national budget, says Price. UCT and Wits also claim that 90% of its students want academic activity to continue and this majority is being held to ransom by a small group of ‘bullies’.
Meanwhile, the frustrated students who bay for change want it now, without paying another cent.

Frustration Fans The Flames

It had been peaceful as thousands of students from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) marched down the streets of Johannesburg to shut down UJ. Peaceful, at least, until a rock smashed into someone’s face.
This was the eighth day of the nationwide campaign to scrap university fees. It was gathering pace, as students ran in the spring sunshine you could feel the simmering anger.
Upon their arrival, most of the Wits students retreated and headed to a larger gathering at the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters, Luthuli House, after being refused entrance to UJ. The rest made for the gate – undaunted.
About 20 gigantic security guards, with the bodies of bouncers, stood behind concrete fencing and chained gates.
First words flew; then rocks, then bricks. The students tried to break the chains on the gate. A rock smashed into the face of one of the guards drawing a torrent of blood. The battle raged for 20 minutes, until the chains broke.
The students moved in hesitantly with their hands in the air; the rattled guards, bloodied with bricks in hand, stood by. Their last hope of stopping the students: the small road, over the freeway, that leads to the university.
The guards dashed for the bridge. They blocked hundreds of charging students. Two students fainted in the stampede but the guards stood firm. There was no backing down. Not even pepper spray deterred the determined students.
“They’re throwing stones, they’re hitting us, they’re spraying things on our face. What must we do? Must we look at them and smile?” asks one of the students with tears running down her cheeks.
Eventually, university staff allowed students through; UJ was shut down.
A few kilometers away in downtown Johannesburg, students lay siege to Luthuli House, the offices of the ANC. The ruling party was prepared. It set up a stage and microphone for the protesters; not too surprising for a liberation movement born of protest. But the 103-year-old party, the oldest in Africa, wasn’t prepared for the young fury of 2015.
On this day, even one of the most powerful men in the land couldn’t hold sway. ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, and the President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Sidumo Dlamini, were told to come down from the stage and talk to the students on the streets. Students then told them to sit down on the road, they refused. Mantashe was also refused an opportunity to address the crowd.
“ANC must fall,” were the chants that met the sunset from the mouths of the children and grandchildren of the struggle that put the party in power.

Tag: Wits

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

The Corona Conundrum

2,000 Participants To Be Entered Into South Africa’s First Covid-19 Vaccine Trial

Pienaar Back Home and Hungry For More Success

The Valiant Cause Losing Its Way

Frustration Fans The Flames

Must We Look At Them And Smile?

‘They Keep On Expecting To Get Things For Free’’