The Student Fights for Education:The Revolutionary Transformation.

Photo credit:Twitter.

As a University student myself, I can be the first to account that I understand my fellow student's frustrations over high university fees.I am in full support of the #FeesMustFall movement since, I am currently struggling through paying for my fees at the University Of Johannesburg, as such I am not seeking any sympathy from anyone, I simply seek to bring to your attention seeing your single mother struggle to make ends meat in order for me to obtain my qualification is hard to witness at times, this is also one of the main reasons I do not take my education for granted.Therefore, imagine those students who are in a far worse position than I am, does the government expect money to be available buy oppressing the masses with high fees? I beg to differ.
Furthermore, take into consideration a young vibrant and intelligent male or female who comes from a disadvantaged background where even a computer is foreign to them when they come up to Johannesburg, and thus struggle to adapt  to university life, on top of the already grueling academic expectations, now they must struggle right through the year as they do not know where the money for their fees will come from, do the institutions of higher learning take this into account when hiking university fees?
Imagine excluding a potential breadwinner from obtaining an education that could break the poverty cycle at home.
The other day, as I was about to write my exam I overheard some of my fellow students saying "all those protesting are doing this for trend purposes" well, excuse since when did the fight for your education become about trends? this matter is bigger than any trend, if whites, coulards, indians, as well as other races outside of South African shores come to support the movement.I believe we need to re-evaluate our perceptions concerning race in South Africa.

High school pupils in solidarity with the #FeesMustFall movement.

 

 

 Nevertheless, as the above photograph illustrates this fight is not only going to affect the current generation of university students, but the coming one who if we do not continue the good fight will question us in future saying "why did you not fight when you had the chance"?
Honestly, as Khaya Dlanga put it on Twitter the other day "if we can justify Nkandla, we can justify #FeesMustFall" how long will government ignore the cries of the oppressed economically? public servants spend funds on luxury expenses, yet fail to pump capital into educating students? so the Minster of Finance would rather pump capital into nuclear programs which do not benefit us in anyway worse part its being given to Russia.
Do we have to be teargassed by the police to be taken seriously? how can South Africans produce Doctors, Lawyers, educated "politicians" to lead South Africa tomorrow.I am not in support of violent protests of any nature students should protest in a non-violent manner.
Excluding the black child from the education system entirely would make them underclass in society, in a way you are disempowering them
It is time our leaders take charge of the situation, and stop losing touch touch reality, how can Parliament continue as usual whilst students are outside fighting for their education?
To have Minister Blade Nzimande utter the words "students must fall" in a joking manner, suggests to me this movement is nothing significant to him.Is he not a leader of the South African Communist Party?
Ultimately, this is not the time for political mudslinging, political agendas must take a back seat this is OUR movement as students, this is a revolutionary period which requires extraordinary coalition, let us not loose touch of our objectives as students.
After witnessing police opened fire on unarmed students at UJ Soweto campus planted images of the apartheid regime, it ,made me realize that both generations are similar with struggles.
I for one can concur with the students anger over high university fees, had it not been for the grace of GOD, I might have dropped out university in 2013.
ALUTA CONTIUA.
 

New Age ANC Meets Social Media

The  African National Congress has entrenched its self with the new age, after embarking on the #AmandlaChallenge, that saw a Social Media phenomenon which appealed to people from all walks of life.Furthermore, I honestly believe this Social Media campaign changed my perceptions regarding the way political parties communicate with citizens for the first time I felt part of something meaningful and I am in charge of a campaign run by a political party which then made me realize how the African National Congress has moved away from the traditional norms of doing things.                                                                                         
However,this campaign was also ignited by the fact that the ANC hosted its 103 year birthday celebrations in Cape Town.Meanwhile,it kept us as the public on our toes and ended up taking selfies/pictures showing my admiration for the party.    

                                Record label owner/ musician Arthur Mafokate who already accepted the                                                                           #AmandlaChallenge during the ANC's birthday celebrations in Cape Town.
   
  Billed as the biggest Social Media campaign by a political party in South Africa which swept across Twitter,Facebook as well as Instagram an example can be given by the following link.I can further attribute this to the trends  on Twitter I observed #AmandlaChallenge again since various media personalities accepted the challenge it went viral instantly since I myself hoped I contributed immensely on the whole campaign.           
                                                              

Terry Pheto with a fellow ANC supporter during their birthday celebrations in Cape Town source: Sowetan Images.

THE DIGITAL TRENDS THE AMANDLA CHALLENGE SHOWCASED.

 Given my observations the #AmandlaChallenge followed five digital trends namely:''Future demands Smart PersonlisationSmart Personlisation,tailoring,4ts techniques,tools,technologies,terminologies,building multi- dimensional profiles'' again this can be used to rank key influencers for example, using celebrities as part of your campaigns as highlighted above.Another one is value evidence strategic planning this can be given by using all social media networks effectively hence it became the most successful social media campaign on the South of the equator.Lastly securing a reputation for content leadership I can safely say it then ignited people's hopes regarding the African National Congress.
                                                                                                                                   

                  OVERALL IMPRESSIONS ON THE MEDIA CAMPAIGN.                                    

   I can safely admit now that Social Media is effective when handled correctly more especially by a political organization which then must also accommodate the youth, this proves that the New Age ANC does not bore people  and I take it this maintains relationships with me the consumer of their product.
                                                                                                            

I further realized that even though during last year when the ANC was going through an image reputation crisis with the Nkandla saga which I personally think was one of the worst PR nightmares I have ever witnessed in my entire life.Again this brought back support and ignited the party's followers and it was evident during their birthday celebrations in Cape Town last month.

DJ Sbu shwoing his support towards the Amandla Challenge /goo.gl/olMwTw source:Sowetan

Ordinary citizens like this father and son showcased the success of this campaign. source: Twitter

                                CONCLUSION

I conclude this by making this personal statement:without Social Media the audience can never be fully satisfied,I trust that Social Media influencers such as Era Baloyi,Khaya Dlanga,Justice Malala, Fikile Mbalula, and Berry Bateman all have an impact with regards to the sucess of this kind of Social Media campaign.