Dear South African government and South African Police Service,
The events of yesterday, October 21, 2015, will go down in history. At least a thousand students and workers of all races and colours marched peacefully on parliament to demand that you fulfill your promises and bring education to all. The youth have woken up and will no longer swallow lies and excuses. Those students will go down in history.
But you, too, will go down in history. You’ve already made your decision as to how you will be portrayed. You will go down in history as the government that brutally suppressed unarmed, peacefully protesting students who embodied what Ubuntu means and what you supposedly want South Africa to look like. They sang the national anthem, with its several beautiful languages, in the face of your brutality, while you pushed them back with flash grenades, batons, pepper spray, and riot gear.
People will speak about you in the same way people now speak about the apartheid regime. People will view you as the oppressors, the traitors. You have chosen to be on the wrong side of history, and nothing you say or do now can ever undo the events of October 21, 2015. We won’t forget, and we won’t cut you any slack. You’ve made your decision. Now you will live with the consequences.
When education is freed and we achieve our goals, you will be held accountable for your actions. I just thought you should have some perspective and realize that, however long it takes, you are fighting a losing battle. We will be free.
Signed,
A 24 year-old privileged white UCT postgrad student who wants the next generation to have the freedom promised to South Africa 21 years ago.
Attempting Authenticity 
[…] Source: #FeesMustFall: An Open Letter to the SA Government […]
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Thank you for mentioning this important part ” At least a thousand students and workers of all RACES and colours marched PEACFULLY on parliament to demand that you fulfill your promises and bring education to all.
We had a debate in class this morning where the “privileged” students didn’t really understand this whole march thing saying ” they took a wrong approach to this situation” as if we are just supposed to write a letter and sit back until a change is implemented.
it was a peaceful march until the police decided to treat students like hooligans who are not willing to listen, but we would listen if some parliament members would stand up and actually give reasonable answers instead of the police treating this like the Marikana incident.
Black, white, privileged or not, lets just all unite for the #feesmustfall
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Exactly. People always ask why South Africans strike for everything, but what they should ask is why the government doesn’t listen to anything less than that. We’ve BEEN using less extreme methods for more than five years, but no one has listened. People who think that our government, who spends exorbitant amounts of money on houses and jets and cars, actually cares enough to read letters, are deluding themselves. Change in SA will only happen when we make it happen. The government simply doesn’t care, so we have to take responsibility for our own country. Thanks for your comment 🙂
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