SOUTH AFRICA CANNOT AFFORD ANOTHER LOST GENERATION

University campuses have been transformed from places of learning to places of turmoil. Lawlessness, disruption and violence are now the catalysts driving student unrest under the transformation banner. Tertiary education has become captive to violent lawlessness that threatens the very foundation of transformational goals. Peaceful protests have been jettisoned in favour of increasingly militant confrontational methods fueled by racism. Transformation at tertiary institutions has and continues to be an agonisiingly frustrating and emotionally painful experience for black students. Besides the lack of adequate housing, tuition debt, and subsistence living, black students also face academic challenges due to poor language, analytical and cognitive skills not cultivated in earlier formative years. The cumulative effect is a breeding ground for anti-social behavior, as well as a new disturbing development which can be described as 'parent culpability syndrome'. The rationale for parent culpability advocated by radical "born frees" rests on the premise that the older black generation sold out their descendants when the Rainbow Nation came about through an ill-conceived negotiated settlement. To these radicals it was a capitulation in which "Mandela was used as a silencing tool for black pain and dissension". Just the opposite, the settlement was agreed upon based on the recognition that a peaceful transition to majority rule trumped catastrophic civil war. It was not a sell-out by ANC leaders demanding regime change. Rather a realistic assessment of ANC options, including the military option which paled against the capabilities of the apartheid regime. As a general rule one can forgive the irrational exuberance and lack of maturity of radical "born frees", but disparaging their elders without an overall appreciation of their momentous contributions pre and post-apartheid is offensive. Students are engaged in an uprising reminiscent of 1976. Back then it was against an illegitimate government, whereas today, students can freely interact with government and university management. They must step up and constructively engage otherwise the term "lost generation" will have new meaning.