Leader’s Odyssey Through the Fire of
#FeesMustFall
Reflections by Former Student Leader, Siyamdumisa Vena
In 2020, I stood on the frontlines of a student protest at Nelson Mandela University (NMU). Tired from the night vigil. My voice hoarse from chanting “Thina Sizofunda Mahala, Bafundi Sofunda Ngenkani” as tear gas clouded the air and rubber bullets flying. As a leader in the Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFFSC) at Nelson Mandel University North Campus at the time. I believed protests could dismantle barriers to education. But that day, my arrest—part of the #NMU4 incident—began a three-year legal ordeal, ending in two months of community service at Walmer High School and a criminal record that shattered my academic dreams. This is my story, written for students, activists, and Mandela University community at large. It contributes to the Madibaz Experimental Writing Space’s prompt, “The Ripple Effect,” and answers: “How does writing help us process struggle and resistance?” through my experience as an EFFSC leader, scarred but unbowed by the fight for justice.
Understanding Student Protests: A Force for Change
Student protests are acts of collective defiance, challenging systemic injustices in education and society. They amplify marginalized voices, disrupt complacency, and demand accountability. Dr. Pedro Mzileni describes student protests as “platforms for critical informal education,” fostering dialogue and political action against higher education’s inequities (Mzileni, 2023). The #FeesMustFall movement, ignited in 2015 at the University of the Witwatersrand, spread to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University at the time. Where we got inspired to wage our own struggles- high tuition fees, worker exploitation, and intersecting oppressions—racism, sexism, and economic exclusion.
It is through the #FMF movement that NMMU decided on the 2015 fee freeze and expanded funding for the “missing middle”—students like me, too poor to pay for university fees but ineligible for full state aid. Ndlovu-Gatsheni argues, protests build communities, embodying a “decolonial imagination” that unites across class and race (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2016). Protests politicize issues, turning personal struggles into collective demands. Thomas Sankara’s call to “dare to invent the future” fuelled my activism (Sankara, 1987). Protests, when genuine, are effective, forcing institutions to act.
The personal costs hit harder: #NMU4
In 2020, I helped organize a protest on the University Way. Demanding better funding and living conditions. The air crackled with defiance—until police unleashed tear gas. Four of us, dubbed the #NMU4, were arrested. The Herald reported, “Four NMU students, part of the #NMU4, were arrested during a heated protest, charged with public violence after blocking University Way” (Herald, October 15, 2020). Madibaz News noted, “The #NMU4 arrests highlight the ongoing tension between students and authorities, with protesters demanding free education” (Madibaz News, October 16, 2020). For three years, I endured court battles, my focus torn between law and lectures. In 2023, I was sentenced to two months of community service at Walmer High School. The criminal record that followed became a chain—delaying my graduation, blocking jobs, and shaming my family, who relied on me as the first potential graduate coming from a poor working-class family.
Other Nelson Mandel University students which faced similar fates:
In 2019, Herald reported “Two NMU students arrested during a protest were released on bail, facing charges of malicious damage to property after clashes at South Campus” (Herald, September 20, 2019). In 2021, three students were detained for disrupting a council meeting, charged with public disturbance (Herald, March 12, 2021). These arrests disrupted studies and dreams, highlighting a key disadvantage; protesters risk becoming casualties of the system they fight. Mzileni describes it as the “trauma and emotional distress” of such repercussions, compounded by police violence (Mzileni, 2023). As a student leader I felt targeted for my militancy, yet my resolve grew. Sankara’s words rang true: “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness” (Sankara, 1987). That madness cost me, but it fuelled my fight.
Writing as Resistance and Healing
Writing has been my salvation, a way to process the chaos of struggle and resistance. “The Ripple Effect,” asked me to trace how my protest reshaped my life and community. At Walmer High School, during community service, I wrote about 2020—the acrid tear gas, the betrayal of police, the chants that still burn in my chest. Writing gave me control over a narrative stolen by courtrooms. Writing honoured my days as a student leader, rallying students behind the call for free education and dealing with campus related challenges such as shuttles, for students to have a better experience at our university campuses.
As Bell Hooks writes, “No need to hear your voice—tell me about your pain, and I will tell it back to you in a new way” (hooks, 1994). Writing transformed my anger into clarity, my shame into resilience- scars, arrests, lost semesters, fractured dreams. My role honed my precision in articulating demands; a skill I now use to craft stories that challenge the system. Writing is resistance!
Ndlovu-Gatsheni calls #FeesMustFall a “transnational flow of ideas,” inspiring global movements (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2016). My words carry that legacy, amplifying the silenced—those arrested, those who couldn’t graduate. Like the protest signs I carried as the leader of a student organization, my writing demands accountability from institutions that criminalize dissent. It’s my megaphone, echoing Sankara’s call to invent a future where education is free.
The Ripple Effect: A Legacy of Struggle and Hope
“The #NMU4’s arrest has sparked debate about the criminalization of student activism at NMU” (Herald, October 15, 2020).
My criminal record delayed my graduation, straining my family’s finances and pride. Yet, my activism inspired many to organize in various spaces. In my community, insourcing gave workers like my neighbour dignity, showing protests’ power to uplift families. My protest experience shaped my advocacy, securing wins within the tenure as representative of students.
I share my personal narrative for students, activists, and the Mandela community at large. This piece blends academic rigour—drawing on Bell Hooks, Mzileni, Ndlovu-Gatsheni, and Sankara—with my protest experience. Writing has processed my struggle and resistance, turning pain into purpose. It’s a mirror reflecting my wounds and a megaphone amplifying my fight. My story, like #FeesMustFall, is unfinished, but it burns with the promise of a future where no student has to compromise their freedom.
References
• hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.
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• Madibaz News. (2020, October 16). “#NMU4 Arrests Highlight Tensions in
#FeesMustFall Protests.” Madibaz News.
• Monkwe, L. (2017). “From Cleaner to Student: The Impact of Insourcing at NMU.”
In Forging Solidarity: Popular Education at Work, edited by A. von Kotze and S.
Walters, 181–192. Rotterdam: Sense.
• Mzileni, P. (2023). “Informal Education and Collective Conscientisation in the
#FeesMustFall Movement at Nelson Mandela University.” Academia.edu.
• Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2016). “The Decolonial Mandela: Peace, Justice and the
Politics of Life.” Journal of Developing Societies, 32(3), 305–321.
• Sankara, T. (1987). Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution 1983
1987. Pathfinder Press.
• The Herald. (2019, September 20). “Two NMU Students Arrested in
#FeesMustFall Protest.” The Herald.
• The Herald. (2020, October 15). “#NMU4 Arrested in #FeesMustFall Protest at
NMU.” The Herald.
• The Herald. (2021, March 12). “Three NMU Students Detained for Disrupting
Council Meeting.” The Herald.