With all eyes and media focused firmly on the ‘Spur Incident’, we as South Africans would be well served to reflect on the progress made in the promotion and protection of human rights as we celebrate the day set aside for it this week.

Tuesday marked 56 years since the Sharpeville massacre. A peaceful protest against pass laws which became a blood bath. Black South Africans had to fight to have equal rights and freedom of movement. After 22 years of democracy do black South Africans have the rights they fought for and were guaranteed once the apartheid regime crumbled?

Freedom of movement refers to the ability to move freely and choose where one resides. In the context of universities, some students have this right while others certainly do not. We have heard the numerous stories of students sleeping in toilets and libraries because student accommodation is lavishly overpriced.

Just one of many examples is #UPResCrisis. Just over a month ago students at the University of Pretoria (UP) were protesting against the lack of affordable accommodation. This is a problem which was made worse in 2015 when UP decided not renew their lease with Urban Nest and began their lease with Hatfield Studios. Hatfield Studios is the more expensive of the two not only because of rent but also there are additional costs such as electricity and Wi-Fi which were included in the rent at Urban Nest.

What one needs to understand is that for students, university residence is more affordable than private accommodation. Universities decide who they will lease from if they require additional accommodation. This essentially means that the options available to students are determined by the university. When one then considers the economic constraints that most students face, their freedom of movement is limited when universities opt to lease from more expensive accommodation providers.

We can look at the bigger picture to see how the freedom of movement of most South Africans is restricted, not just students. A good example is township demographics. Alexandra Township was set up as a “native township” in 1912. More than a hundred years later, the vast majority of people living in Alexandra are black. A population census for 2011 revealed that 98.95% of the population are black.

Taken from https://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/798014

Again one of the main reasons for this is the economic constraints that most black South Africans have. Constraints that they inherited from apartheid. While black South Africans’ movement may not be restricted by laws, there is no denying that their economic position within the country does.

Written by Jody Davison