‘Bold and the Beautiful’ remark not meant to discredit student struggle, says Nzimande

In his address to the Parliament’s education committee on Tuesday amid protests by students over the issues of historical debts and financial exclusion, Nzimande compared the annual instability at tertiaries to the long-running US soapie The Bold and the Beautiful.

On Thursday, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) called for his resignation.

In 2016, at the height of FeesMustFall, Nzimande made a comment that “students must fall”.

Nzimande believes his comments were taken out of context.

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“Minister Nzimande views Saftu statement as vacuous as it is an opportunistic attempt to grandstand on the basis of a deliberate effort to misconstrue his contribution to the central problem facing the higher education and broader post-school education and training system,” said his spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi.

“The minister is absolutely clear about what he said and meant by his metaphoric reference to a ‘repeat soapie’, that the higher education system must be supported with proper funding to support Government policy on fee-free higher education for the working class and poor if we are to avoid an endless and predictable cycle of instability at our campuses.”

He says Nzimande’s metaphor was not directed at discrediting student struggles for equality, but at the system that forces this repeat cycle of conflict and instability.

“Minister Nzimande further said that If Saftu have real concerns and issues regarding developments in the post-school education and training sector, he is more than willing to meet and engage with them.”