The Wits SRC have raised R1, 7 million after Wits chancellor Dikgang Moseneke and ten of his friends donated R50 000 each at the “One million, One month” launch earlier today.
The “One million, One month” campaign was officially launched by the Wits Student Representatives Council (SRC) at the Great Hall today even though the campaign reached its initial target of R1-million last Friday. The SRC was joined by the campaign’s ambassadors whose contributions today saw the total amount rise to R1,7 million.
Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, one of the ambassadors, donated R50 000 and arranged for ten of his friends to match his contribution.
“I have phoned a number of my friends and I said to them I will make a commitment on my feet today … and at least 10 of them said they will match me”, Moseneke said.
“One of my friends was moved by young comrades thinking in a very revolutionary way. They have a deep grievance but they find a positive way to address it”, Moseneke added.
Wits vice-chancellor, Professor Adam Habib, said he hopes that the campaign raises one or two million more.
“I will not lie to you. We are hoping to make R2 or 3 million … I will not have enough money to fund all students,” Habib said.
Wits SRC president Mcebo Dlamini pointed out that he was no longer talking to the Department of Higher Education (DHE), about the problem but he refuses to see 2788 students go back home.
“One of my friends was moved by young comrades thinking in a very revolutionary way. They have a deep grievance but they find a positive way to address it”
“Our wish is to take all 2788 students to class because that is the future of the nation. I can’t lose 2788 students, I cannot,” Dlamini said.
LEGACY: Advocate George Bizos, attended the Wits SRC’s One Million, One Month launch at the Wits Great Hall. Photo: Tendai Dube
Advocate George Bizos, who was the first official ambassador of the campaign, shared a moving story of a young woman he knew who struggled financially and recalled his promise to “never let anyone in [his] generation go through the same thing”.
Mpendulo Nkosi, a first year civil engineering student from rural KZN spoke of his difficulties in securing accommodation and funding for his studies at Wits. He was later surprised by the announcement that he was to be fully funded by a donor, the Thusanani Foundation, a youth-led non- profit organisation.
Nkosi said, “I am really thankful, they have done great for me and my family.”
“I am really thankful, they have done great for me and my family”.
Another significant donation was that of R100 000 from the South African National Zakah Fund (SANZAF).
Amongst the ambassadors who joined Bizos and Moseneke on stage was poet Lebo Mashile, and singer, Thandiswa Mazwai, both of whom congratulated Wits and the student leadership for their positive reaction to the funding crisis.
ONE HUNDRED RAND LEADER: SRC President Mcebo Dlamini holds R100 as pledge to support education for all. Photo: Palesa Tshandu
WITH R780 000 already pledge for the “One Million One Month” campaign, an official launch with the campaign’s ambassadors will be taking place this Monday.
Poet Lebo Mashile and Advocate George Bizos will be attending the launch as ambassadors. Tobecome an ambassador one has to pledge at least R1 000 to the cause.
Fighting NSFAS insufficiency
Around 2 788 students were left stranded when NSFAS (National Students Financial Aid Scheme), rejected their applications due to insufficient funds. To address the issue, the Wits SRC launched the “One Million, One Month” campaign during the Wits Welcome Day on February 9, in hopes of raising money for the remaining students who cannot afford registration.
So far R300 000 has been promised through pledges, commitments and contributions from NGO’s, alumni, and members of the Wits community. An additional R480 000 has already been raised through corporations and donors.
“We’ve got commitments and contributions for about R300 000 but there’s no money in the bank … The money hasn’t necessarily come in,” said Sheera Kalla, SRC deputy president.
The average Wits student contributes anything from R10 to R100 but the SRC is encouraging all students to contribute R100 to reach the goal.
The “One million One Month” campaign will not solve the NSFAS shortfall at Wits, which the SRC estimates to be R174-million, but the contributions will help in the registration of some students.
“So yes, we might not be able to raise R174-million but we will be able to actually change quite a few student’s [lives] just by allowing them to register because at the end of the day you have the rest of the year to save, but if you are not registered then you are not a Wits student,” Kalla said.
Real student leaders
Students have turned to social media to praise the campaign.
One student, Ernest Khathu Hasha tweeted out that Wits still has “real student leaders indeed”.
“Any problem does have a solution. #1Million1Month,” he said.
The official launch will be happening on Monday afternoon at the Great Hall from 12 pm to 3 pm.
The “One Million One Month” campaign was announced at Wits Welcome Day by SRC President Mcebo Dlamini.
HOMELESS: Wits Junction Res management has been accused of maladministration after students were left homeless. Photo: Wits Vuvuzela.
Wits’ most luxurious residence has been accused of maladministration after failing to accommodate its returning and international students leaving them homeless.
The Wits Junction House Committee released a statement on Facebook regarding the perceived difficulties of student accommodation, describing them as “serious gross irregularities” blaming poor management for the problem.
The new cluster manager Thokozani Manyange has been accused of mismanagement after a number of students were left without accommodation. “I propose that the new manager of Junction be changed to Esselen residences so that he can gain experience – because Junction is too big,”said Student Representative Council (SRC) president and former Junction House Committee chairperson, Mcebo Dlamini.
Wits Vuvuzela tried to contact Manyange who directed inquiries to the Director of Campus Housing and Life Rob Sharman. While Sharman said he would not comment “on the allegations about staff,” he disputed the contents of the statement suggesting that it was released to serve the interests of certain committee members who were still on the accommodation waiting list.
“It seems one individual person is pushing very hard for his friends to get it”. Certain people have certain interests”, said Sharman.
According to Sharman there were three individuals behind the release of the statement with the application of two of those applicants was eventually successful because they had followed the normal course of waiting list processes, but the third, because he was a non-applicant is still on the waiting list.
Wits Junction House Committee chairperson Ntando Mndawe confirms that they were two returning students on the waiting list who were members of House Committee, but insists that this was not an issue of self-interest “We weren’t saying they should prioritise the two members… management likes to twist things but they said they would be investigating the issue,” said Mndawe.
“I propose that the new manager of Junction be changed to Esselen residences so that he can gain experience – because junction is too big,”
Sharman explained that there are two different accommodation waiting lists concerning Wits Junction students. The first consists of 234 students who are not at the res but have inquired and requested accommodation. The second is a list of 33 returning students who are “waiting to write supplementary exams, funding issues are unable to pay fees or appealing.”
Although he admits to a “hierarchy” with the student waiting list system but insists that the criterion set out by the university has to be “applied consistently”.
“There is a difficulty, students do not understand the complexity of dealing with tens and thousands of applications where each applicant has different need, different financial and academic circumstances. Every application has to be considered on its merits,” said Sharman.
“It’s (Wits Junction) the cream of Wits… everything is there so poorly managed and that’s the fact,” said Dlamini.
When Wits Vuvuzela visited the office, there were at least 10 students sitting at reception, all waiting to be placed in accommodation. After Wits Vuvuzela asked a student a question about the lack of accommodation, a receptionist told the reporter: “you are a trouble maker”.
The receptionist called another staff member who told Wits Vuvuzela that it “wasn’t proper etiquette” to interview students waiting at Wits Junction. However Sharman blatantly denies that there is an accommodation crisis – but insists that there are still many students seeking accommodation “as it is typical at this time of year.”
NO SUPPORT: SRC President Mcebo Dlamini says the Wits SRC does not support the DUT’s call to expel Jewish students. Photo: Nqobile Dludla
The Wits Student Representative Council (SRC) has said it refuses to support the Durban University of Technology (DUT) SRC’s call for the deregisteration of Jewish students.
In an interview with Wits Vuvuzela yesterday, Wits SRC president Mcebo Dlamini called the demand “ridiculous and stupid”.
The demand, made by DUT’s SRC and the Progressive Youth Alliance, called for “Jewish students, especially those who do not support the Palestinian struggle,” to deregister from the institution.
Dlamini, on behalf of the Wits SRC, said that all South Africans have the right to study and should be able to study anywhere they want.
“I could never support this initiative or cause. We, as an SRC, are for a South Africa for all who live in it. For all those who support Palestinians and for all those who are Jewish.”
He told Wits Vuvuzela that he was going to recommend to Mqondisi Duma, deputy secretary of the DUT SRC, that they retract their demand, “from one president to another”.
“This is the wrong call, you cannot deal with issues of racism generally,” he said. “It shows some leaders are lazy to think,” Dlamini told Wits Vuvuzela.
The DUT SRC was unavailable for comment at the time of publication but released a statement late Wednesday afternoon clarifying media reports of their demands. The statement says the DUT SRC believes the state of Israel is an “Apartheid, genocidal and terrorist State”. They said their demand was made in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
“… we demand that ANY Jewish, Muslim, Christian, even Atheist or any other that is funded by the Apartheid State of Israel and its institutions must not be students in DUT …,” read the statement. [READ THE FULL STATEMENT HERE]
New students attending the annual Wits welcome day today were challenged to donate a hundred rand each to assist students who face exclusion due to a lack of funding. The call came from Student Representative Council (SRC) president Mcebo Dlamini, as part of efforts to assist students who did not receive funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
“The target is to raise one million by the end of this month,” said Dlamini, who is aiming to enlist the support of ten thousand people to reach the target before the end of February.
Dlamini was addressing an audience of over 5000 people, including parents and first-year students, who had gathered on the Library Lawns for the start of the official Orientation Week programme.
“It is a sad moment for this university,” said Dlamini who was referring to the 2788 student who were not able to register at Wits due to the lack of funding.
ONE HUNDRED RAND LEADER: SRC President Mcebo Dlamini holds R100 as pledge to support education for all. Photo: Palesa Tshandu
Dean of Students, Dr Pamela Dube, described the announcement as an “excellent plan” but said this was the first time the academic staff of the institution had heard of it.
“We were not aware of it but we would like people to help … this is what the SRC should be doing,” said Dube.
“The target is to raise one million by the end of this month,”
Former SRC president Shafee Verachia described the pledge as a “proactive initiation” by student leaders saying “if this pledge is a success, it will be a great success for the SRC”.
Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Professor Ruksana Osman commended Dlamini’s efforts in fundraising for the unregistered students.
Osman also said the Faculty of Humanities had pledged R1.5 million to help postgraduate students who are receiving their Bachelor of Arts honours degrees.
Dlamini confirmed the SRC will work with Wits University and Convocation to run the campaign once it gains traction and an account for the funds will be set-up by the office of the Dean of Students.
PAINED: A PYA member calls for students to unite in solidarity with those unable to pay the upfront registration fee. Photo: Ilanit Chernick
Around 60 Witsies gathered at Senate House on Wednesday to protest the upfront fee expected from NSFAS students.
Students who are awaiting National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) approval have been asked to pay a registration fee of R4 670.
The protesters sang “My mother was a kitchen girl, my father was a garden boy” and chanted “NSFAS voetsek! NSFAS voetsek!” while dancing.
Members of the Wits Student Representative Council (SRC), Progressive Youth Alliance, the Wits Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Project W attended the protest.
SRC president Mcebo Dlamini told protesters that Wits management was denying “poor students an education”. He called on Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib and management to waive the upfront fee.
“This has never happened at Wits. Why now? Only rich students can study here. We the students demand that you do away with these fee,” Dlamini said.
SNAP THAT: A PYA member takes photos as students protest outside the Great Hall. Photo: Ilanit Chernick
Secretary of the Wits EFF Mbe Mbhele accused NSFAS of having a policy to exclude black students at Wits and around academic institutions.
“It is only black students who are affected. This exclusion is a reflection of what is happening around South Africa. If it is not resolved we will take radical action,” Mbhele said.
Deputy Vice-chancellor of Academics Prof Andrew Crouch told Wits Vuvuzela that the upfront fee for NSFAS beneficiaries would only affect about 400 students. However, it was not possible to waive their upfront fees.
“If we waiver the fee for 400 students, which is 12 percent of students, than we would have to waiver the complete registration fee [of R9 340] for all Wits Students. We have to be fair here. Bear in mind 88% of students pay full fees,” Crouch said.
Crouch also said that the university are doing their best to deal with the situation.
He said that NSFAS give Wits four types of allocations for funding. The university is trying to move money from three of the four allocations into the NSFAS general allocation to allow for at least 400 students whose applications are pending to receive funding.
“The process will be completed by February,” he said.
Following the protest a joint press conference was held between the SRC and university management.
Habib told reporters that the issue was out of Wits’ hands and that NSFAS had given strict instructions to Wits not to go over its NSFAS bursary allocation as the university had done in 2013 and 2014.
“If we had the money to hand out we would but we just can’t at the moment.”
Habib said the reason behind the high upfront registration fee is because the government subsidy only comes into play from April each year.
“We have to make up the deficits of the first three months of the year and part of the money used to pay staff salaries and fund the university through this period is through the registration fee.”
Dlamini accused Habib of being “politically correct”.
“Our VC is playing politics,” he said. “It’s a sad moment, the university wants to eat its own like a pig.”
CALL TO ORDER: A member of the EFF calls for management to explain themselves to students. Photo: Ilanit Chernick
Dlamini also blamed Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande for not taking the NSFAS issue and the Wits SRC seriously.
“When we met with the minister he kept joking and talking about Nkandla,” Dlamini said. “We just hope he listened to us. He must start taking education seriously and allocate more money for higher education before students end up on the streets.”
Some students on Twitter had also threatened violence if students were excluded over a lack of NSFAS funding. Habib warned that violence on campus would be taken “seriously by the law”. Students found to be involved “in such actions will be expelled” with no chance to reapply to the university in the future.
The choice of Mcebo Dlamini for Student Representative Council (SRC) president was not contested within the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) , one of the organisation’s leaders said.
“There’s no one who contested presidency, Mcebo was elected unopposed,” Wits Young Communist League secretary David Manabile told Wits Vuvuzela. The Young Communist League is part of the PYA.
Last week, Wits Vuvuzela reported that there was disagreement within the PYA over who should be SRC president. According to one of the PYA leaders interviewed in the article, there was a struggle to decide between Dlamini, Amogelang Manganyi and Senzekahle Mbokazi for president. There was disagreement over their different levels of experience and ability to carry out their duties.
But Manabile rejected this claim and said only Dlamini was mentioned as a potential president at the PYA’s deployment committee meeting and the following branch general meeting (BGM).
“We adopted recommendations of the deployment committee as they were. The only name raised for presidency was Mcebo Dlamini,” said Manabile.
“Those faceless people you interviewed might have had a different view but rest assured in the meeting we had, no one raised any other name for presidency.”
Sharing the same view, incoming president Dlamini said PYA members who believed there was a contest for SRC president were “lying”.
“There wasn’t any contestation for presidency, the sources were lying. I do not know if they were in the same BGM that we were in,” Dlamini said.
Although presidency was uncontested, Manabile said that PYA members in the BGM, which is the organisation’s highest decision making body, had differences over who would be Dlamini’s deputy.
“We did have different views as to who must deputize him but at the end we reached consensus, we left the meeting united, believing in the leadership that the BGM has agreed upon,” said Manabile.
A deployment committee list seen by Wits Vuvuzela listed Dlamini as president and Manganyi as vice president. The house reshuffled Manganyi to deputy secretary general and Shaeera Kalla from secretary general to vice president. Mbokazi who was initially given CSO and Student governance, was moved to secretary general.
Dlamini said although the vice president and secretary general portfolios were contested, that should not be seen as though “we are fighting”.
“It’s not like we are fighting when we contest. Contestation is fine and is allowed. It’s wrong for people who were in the BGM to witness this contestation and say that there is bad blood,” said Dlamini.
IT’S PYA DAY: Project W’s Jamie Mighti (left) attempts to argue a point to PYA member and former SRC president Sibulele Mgudlwa (right) after Project W walked out of the SRC’s first meeting over the selection of portfolios. Mgudlwa attempted to bring Project W back to the meeting. Photo: Nqobile Dludla
by Ilanit Chernick and Nqobile Dludla
The abrupt end of the new SRC’s first meeting, which climaxed with a dramatic walkout by Project W who accused the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) of being “illegitimate and undemocratic”, followed a week of behind-the-scenes battles over positions on the new council.
Project W walked out during the vote for new portfolios, which they said were decided without their input by the PYA—who have a majority of the seats on the new SRC.
The vote carried on with PYA member Mcebo Dlamini being elected as the new SRC president.
However, while the PYA presented a united front at the SRC meeting, the decision to select Dlamini and other SRC executive committee members was far from unanimous.
“There are also older comrades in the PYA who influence the decisions on the presidential candidate and the executive committee. The process is increasingly frustrating,”
Wits Vuvuzela spoke to leaders in the PYA, who confirmed the alliance struggled to make a decision on who should be elected to the important executive positions. All the PYA leaders requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on internal alliance politics.
According to one PYA leader, there was a struggle to decide between three presidential choices, Dlamini, Amogelang Manganyi, and Senzekahle Mbokazi with disagreement over their different levels of experience and ability to carry out their duties.
Some PYA members believed Dlamini was the strongest candidate because of his position as Wits Junction chair despite a controversy earlier this year over his false claim to be a member of the prestigious Sisulu family.
“People want Mcebo despite controversies surrounding him in the Sisulu question,” the PYA leader said.
According to this PYA leader, Mangayani’s suitability as a SRC president was questioned because he is currently a fifth-year medical student and would face time constraints next year that would affect his ability to meet presidential duties.
This process of selecting executive members of the SRC was made more complicated by senior PYA leaders outside the current SRC attempting to influence the selection of positions.
“There are also older comrades in the PYA who influence the decisions on the presidential candidate and the executive committee. The process is increasingly frustrating,” the PYA leader said. He declined to name the senior PYA members involved.
However, a second PYA leader interviewed by Wits Vuvuzela denied that lobby groups within the alliance had been allowed to form.
“The PYA don’t squabble,” the second PYA leader said, “We meet as a collective. Those members with experience try to advise or give opinions when choosing candidates for exec or president but things change all the time.”
However, this PYA leader admitted the alliance had little control groups and friends within the PYA who form “behind closed doors” and who have decided on backing their own candidates.
“But we call all members of the PYA together to decide who should be presidential candidate. We decide and solve these issues together,” the PYA leader said.
The walkout
The politicking within the PYA ended with Wednesday’s meeting and the walkout by Project W.
Wits Vuvuzela had initially been denied access to the portfolio meeting. However, after a short conference between Project W’s Jamie Mighti and outgoing SRC president Shafee Verachia she was allowed in “as a student” so long as she put away her camera and voice recorder.
The meeting was held in Senate House and chaired by Verachia. It was attended by 14 of the 15 newly elected SRC members. Also in attendance were representatives from other Wits student councils and three members of the current SRC.
The meeting was also attended by former SRC and PYA members Sibulele Mgudlwa, Joyce Phiri and Tshepo Ndlovu, Ntshembo Vuma and Thabang Ntshanana. A Project W member, Zuhayr Tayob, was also in attendance.
The meeting first voted for the executive positions, including president, with PYA members taking the top five slots with little protest from Project W.
“What do they expect me to do, teach yoga?”
However, 20 minutes into the meeting an argument erupted during a debate over portfolios. Both the PYA and Project W had proposed new portfolios for the SRC and motivated for them during the meeting.
Verachia then moved to have a vote on the portfolios, however Mighti objected saying there should be an open debate over the proposed portfolios before the vote.
Verachia responded that both organisations had already motivated for the proposed portfolios and further debate was not needed.
After another brief exchange between the participants, Verachia again moved for a vote resulting in the Project W members gathering their belongings and walking out of the meeting.
“We walked out because it was an illegitimate forum. They are not allowed to dictate positions to us, and this was an unjust abuse of power,” Mighti said.
Verachia adjourned the meeting after the walkout and Mgudlwa successfully attempted to convince the Project W members to return to the meeting. Verachia then cited SRC rules governing meetings and reconvened the meeting with the remaining SRC members.
“The PYA have chosen to dictate positions to us instead. Positions which we will not agree too because they are redundant white elephants which is a betrayal to students’ needs,” Mighti said.
Mighti, who was made the Campus Wellness officer, said his position was redundant because there were already university structures to help student health.
“What do they expect me to do, teach yoga?” he asked.
Mighti said they would lay a complaint about the meeting with university authorities. Failing that, they would seek an interdict at the South Gauteng High Court to overturn the outcome of the meeting.
Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib said he was “gathering information” about the situation.
Verachia said the PYA were preparing a statement in response to Project W’s walkout and subsequent accusations. However, it had not been sent to Wits Vuvuzela as of our print deadline.
Turnout for the SRC elections dropped to about 23% this year over a two-day voting period, falling slightly short of the organiser’s target.
The SRC Election Office had set a goal of 25% of student participation for the 2014 election. However, organisers said they were pleased with the result despite falling short.
“We definitely did better this year with 23.1% over two days in comparison to 24% in three days last year… We’re happy with the percentage we received,” said deputy chief electoral officer Nicole Msomi.
However, Msomi conceded that turnout could have been better, “There’s always room for improvement.”
Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) candidate Mcebo Dlamini said that the low turnout of students to vote is due to the lack of advertising from the election office saying “it’s not doing its job”.
However, Dlamini added that student leaders also had responsibility for political apathy and low turnout among the student community.
“Student activism in the university went down drastically…which means we are no longer relevant to the students, we are losing the masses,” he said.
Msomi believes that her office did its job and that it was up to the candidates to promote themselves and their parties.
“The IEC is responsible for putting up banners and letting students know how to vote, we also gave out booklets. The candidates market for their parties.”
Dlamini said he had heard “funny” reasons for students not voting: “The funniest reason I got was that, “I am doing mathematics, thus I don’t vote” but most generally, people complain of the queue or that they are busy and others just say, “I’m not into politics” but others don’t understand why people have to vote, they just don’t see the reason why they have to vote.”
However, Project W candidate Jamie Mighti believes that students understand the importance of voting but the reasons why they choose not to vote is due to the way student politics play out as a “theatre of the absurd”.
“We have turned politics into theatre of the absurd, students are genuinely concerned about the issues, [but] when they see their leaders playing politics with their lives they get on with their daily business.”
Despite the low number and demotivation of some students to vote, some Wities understood the importance of voting.
Mzwanele Ntswanti 2nd year actuarial science, said, “It’s important to vote regardless of who to vote for, it is a right that we should all protect. Some students are not voting because they are indifferent between the three organisations, others are based on religious beliefs and other do not understand.”
The SRC election results will be announced on Thursday afternoon on the Great Hall steps.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?: Mcebo Dlamini says the #Sisulu controversy did not affect his political standing. Photo: Luca Kotton
Wits student Mcebo Dlamini, who falsely claimed to be a member of the prestigious Sisulu family, does not believe the controversy will affect his campaign for SRC.
Dlamini, who is the chair of the Wits Junction house committee, claimed to be “Mcebo Freedom Sisulu”, the lovechild of renowned journalist Zwelakhe Sisulu and a Swazi princess but later admitted to Wits Vuvuzela that this was a lie.
Credible campaigning
Dlamini is now running for SRC as a member of the Progressive Youth Alliance. When asked if he would be campaigning as “Dlamini” or “Sisulu” he replied: “I am campaigning as Mcebo!”
“Some of us are not made by our surnames. Your surname does not define you,” Dlamini told Wits Vuvuzela.
However, Dlamini continues to namecheck the Sisulu family. During a Wits Townhall on August 4, Dlamini asked a question from the audience identifying himself as “Mcebo #Sisulu”.
He told Wits Vuvuzela that his credibility is not affected.
“I’m defined by my character. Only Vuvuzela defined me by my surname,” Dlamini said. “My leadership is not defined by my name.”
“I am always with the marginalised”
He told Wits Vuvuzela that he was a “humble” and “open” person who engaged with all kinds of people. He said he did not hang out with people based on “class” or how important their family is.
“I am always with the marginalised,” Dlamini said.
Confident leadership
The PYA is a coalition of student organisations including the ANC Youth League, SA Student Congress, Young Communist League and Muslim Students Association.
Dlamini said it was not his ambition to be on the SRC and he was asked to run by the PYA. This showed the organisation had “confidence” in his ability to lead.
“It is not my choice to run. It is the confidence of the students who say, ‘you can lead us’,” he said.
Dlamini had also claimed to be studying a “secret” nuclear physics degree at the University of Pretoria. When contacted by Wits Vuvuzela, the university said no such degree existed.
Dlamini said he would not contest statements that he was studying toward a nuclear physics degree. He said Wits Vuvuzela journalists did not have proof to dispute his academic records.
“It’s the people who decide who must be the leader … We can’t deprive students from the opportunity to vote for a leader based on an article that hasn’t been tested,” Dlamini said.
He said the revelations about his deception published in Wits Vuvuzela had not affected his political standing.
“It has had no impact on me,” Dlamini said.
“Mcebo the person still lives … I know who I am, I don’t need a newspaper to define me.”
Wits Vuvuzela and the Wits Journalism department have been criticised after exposing a student politician who had been falsely claiming to be a member of the prestigious family of struggle hero Walter Sisulu.
Head of Wits Junction house committee Mcebo Freedom Dlamini had claimed to be “Mcebo Sisulu”, the grandchild of Walter Sisulu. Last week, he admitted to Wits Vuvuzela that this was not true and said he used “Sisulu” as a “stage name” or “when I’m excited”.
Reactions from the Wits community ranged from demanding Wits Vuvuzela to retract the article and issue a public apology to thanking the publication for revealing the truth about Dlamini.
“Of course we are aware that Wits Vuvuzela is ran [sic] by non-apologetic white racists,”
Wits Vuvuzela “sensationalist and insensitive”
The South African Students Congress (Sasco) Wits branch responded by calling Wits Vuvuzela “extremely sensationalist, insensitive and highly ignorant”. Wits Sasco criticised Wits Vuvuzela for publishing the article on Dlamini during exam period.
“We are unequivocally perturbed by Vuvuzela‘s degenerated and haphazard journalism which … has ‘transformed’ overnight into a publication-wing of the department of home affairs,” Wits Sasco said in a statement issued early yesterday morning.
Wits Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) co-ordinator Mbe Mbhele said in a statement that the publication of the article during exam period amounted to “malice” towards Dlamini.
Wits Journalism Department accused of racism
Wits EFF also leveled racism accusations against the Wits Journalism department in the statement released by Mbhele. The statement singled out head of department Prof. Anton Harber, course co-ordinator Jo-Anne Richards and adjunct professor Franz Krüger for criticism.
“Of course we are aware that Wits Vuvuzela is ran [sic] by non-apologetic white racists,” said Mbhele. “Who used two aspiring black journalists to defame and smear the character of a fellow student.”
“I personally don’t feel or have ever felt controlled by them. They really don’t impose themselves in the day to day running of the paper or the publishing of stories online,”
Wits Vuvuzela journalist Rofhiwa Madzena, one of the writers of the expose on Dlamini, rejected the accusations by Wits EFF.
“I personally don’t feel or have ever felt controlled by them. They really don’t impose themselves in the day to day running of the paper or the publishing of stories online,” Madzena said.
“Their role is essentially to equip us with the resources and the understanding of how we are supposed to put stories together,” Madzena said.
“The rest is up to us in terms of finding stories and putting them together.”
The Wits Journalism department has defended Wits Vuvuzela for its publication of the article on Dlamini.
“The story is a valid, well-researched news story, showing that a student representative has been misrepresenting himself to the student body and the campus community,” said Krüger in a statement on behalf of the department.
Krüger also rejected the accusations of racism made against the department by Wits EFF calling them “unfounded”.
“Accusations of racism leveled at members of our department are simply an attempt to divert attention from the real issue, which is: our students produced a piece of good journalism of great public interest to members of the student body,” Krüger said.
Call for student boycott of Wits Vuvuzela
Some students and student organisations have taken to Twitter to call for a boycott of Wits Vuvuzela.
“@WitsVuvuzela must be boycotted. They are failing to intellectually stimulate students of the 2nd best university on the continent,” said former SRC president Sibulele Mgudlwa (@Sibulele_).
However, along with the criticism, there has also been support from the Wits community on social media.
“I thought the article was well written and researched. I wouldn’t know why someone would criticize the publication of something that important,” said Witsie Houston Austin Muzamhindo on the Wits Vuvuzela Facebook page.
Some students said they believed the article was important because Dlamini is a student leader and he must face the music for his false claims.
“If you are going to lie, stand for it and eventually fall for it. Not all students disagree with @witsvuvuzela,” @2_Miza tweeted, yesterday afternoon.
For the full statement by the Wits Journalism department, click here.
Since her announcement as the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille has dominated national headlines. In this bonus episode of We Should Be Writing podcast, hosts Lulah Mapiye and Bonolo Mokonoto dissect a media meet-and-greet with the mayoral hopeful. From her extensive political résumé to her controversial public utterance, we examine why the Democratic Alliance has chosen Hellen Zille as their candidate for the 2027 local mayoral elections. Additionally, […]
