PROTESTING trade unions and Fees Must Fall students largely missed their targets over the past week, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap. Several unionists called on the private sector to provide “decent work” while many students called on the universities to provide free tertiary education.
However, says Bell, the private sector is not in the business of creating decent work and university administrations do not have it in their power to decide on fees or their removal. Elements in both protesting groups also tended to lay blame on “white monopoly capital” and this too was misguided, says Bell, who maintains that capital knows only one colour — the colour of money.
He adds that, given the nature of the economic system, it is not in the interests of private enterprise to employ more people than are absolutely necessary for any enterprise. And, in order to compete profitably, companies also need to pay workers as little as they can get away with.
Bell notes that for universities to function, they require government subsidies. But, in South Africa, these subsidies have steadily declined in recent years.
At one level, all of this comes down to persuading government, since it regulates the business environment and makes decisions on the provision of social services such as education, health and transport. However, according to Bell, the South African system of governance is a far cry from being “of the people, for the people”.
The party list system coupled with secret funding has created a situation that is a partial - even farcical - democracy. It is a recipe, he maintains, for patronage, nepotism and other forms of corruption. And the hope is that the recent protests will raise the questions of how we are governed and whose interests those in government serve.
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