THE MEN’S Res house committee claims it does not have enough funds to subsidise the raiders for the All Res picnic.
Men’s Res house committee chairperson, Sanele Nene, said the house committee subsidised students for the All Res picnic.
“We could not raise enough funds to subsidise students to the extent that we would like,” Nene said.
Rob Sharman of Campus Housing and Residence Life said: “As the Men’s Res house committee receives one of the largest annual grants of any residence, I am not sure why they should have a shortfall.
“I have asked for a full analysis of their expenditure to date, and am happy to meet with the house committee to discuss their concerns,” Sharman said.
Nene said the reason they could not fully subsidise raiders was because of the suspension and the cancelled party.
Nene said that throughout the year Men’s Res was expected to schedule events and that the profits from these events are used to subsidise the cost of the picnic. He said they also subsidise the jackets sold to raiders.
Earlier this year the Men’s Res house committee was suspended for misconduct during orientation. Three house committee members resigned because of “frustrations” from management and the cancellation of a scheduled party.
Chairperson of the All Residence Council, Justice Nkomo, said they had a meeting on Monday September 17 with the Men’s Res house committee and “we told them that we expect Men’s Res to be there [at the picnic] and we want them to subsidise students because the amount was too much”.
He said they expected Men’s Res to fill at least 22 seats in the transport used to get to the picnic venue.
Nene said no one at Men’s Res was boycotting the All Res picnic. He said that because of the price, raiders were just not interested in going to the picnic.
“Gone are those days we used to pay R100 and get 24 drinks!” says an e-mail circulating among raiders at Men’s Res. “Wits management is trying by all means to cancel this important event and I think they are succeeding.”
Nkomo said: “management has always been very unfair when it comes to Men’s Res”.
“The issue here is that Men’s Res is trying to sabotage management and management is trying to sabotage Men’s Res.
“They don’t have the same attitude towards the other residences.”
“I am not sure where these allegations stem from”, said Sharman.
The All Res picnic is on Saturday and costs R130.
Published in Last Print Edition of WitsVuvuzela for 2012.
