Fees Must Fall: A nuanced observation of the University of Cape Town, 2015–2016

Abstract

abstractCiting the politics of the Fees Must Fall movement in 2015–2016, Patriarchy Must Fall – a movement within the space set at upsetting hegemonic patriarchy within the mainstream movement – failed to deconstruct the aforesaid oppressive system effectively. The façade of a broader, inclusive, intersectional movement of free education for all South Africans masked the narrative of an ultimate matrixed oppression and further revealed pervasive positivist attitudes of hypermasculine privilege within society. In combing through the fibres of the past, one realises that the oppressions which often pivot student movements are not new. The tokenism awarded to womxn and non-cisgender conforming bodies during and after apartheid continues to be expressed in the student movements of the past three years in South Africa. Broad mandates of the movements continue to be marred by positivist notions of patriarchy which exclude feminist engagement and inherently conceal vital issues raised by active intersectional engagement (Bhavnani, 1994). Positivist patriarchal knowledges continue to (knowingly or unknowingly) influence the actions of student leaders and institutions. Moreover, nuanced, surface-level understandings of concepts such as intersectionality continue to foster problematic assumptions. These remain detrimental to feminist ideologies and acclimatising to patriarchal knowledges of engagement. There is thus a legitimate need for the creation of a new language to produce and narrate African gendered knowledges and to perpetuate contextualised gender justice on the continent (Okech, 2013).