Madonsela urges students to fight ‘with their minds’
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela urged students to “use their minds” to fight social injustice like former writer Sol Plaatjie who fought the system “with his mind”.
“Social injustice matters, it matters now and everyone deserves social justice. As long as there is injustice somewhere, sustainable peace cannot be experienced anywhere,” Madonsela said on Monday.
The outgoing public protector was speaking at the dialogue sessions with students and staff of North West University in Mahikeng.
Plaatje was a South African intellectual, journalist, writer and the first general secretary of the South African Native National Congress, which later became the African National Congress.
Madonsela said that the difference between the old and new state was that the former would not listen to people and said that the character of the new state as envisaged in the Constitution made accountability by those exercising public power central while entrenching citizen participation.
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She said young leaders had the power to make a difference as they carry the dreams and hopes of South Africans.
“Young persons can fast-track the delivery of the South African dream without bricks, stones and fire and when normal dialogue fails, they can make use of other constitutional avenues such as the public protector, the South African Human Rights Commission and Petitions among others,” she said.
Madonsela said investment in education required constitutional obligations to be given priority implementation over “nice to do things”.
“Young people need to conceive and offer new and relevant tools of analysis that transcend Marx, Sankara and others. Such should help us understand the role of the state today including whether or not the state is increasingly used as a tool for wealth accumulation or self-enrichment by some of those entrusted with public power and resources,” said Madonsela, whose term as public protector ends in October.
She undertook to assign the deputy public protector to look into issues raised by students and staff with a view to achieve a unified university anchored in social justice.