Wits gears up for SRC elections
Wits students prepapre to vote for their new SRC.
Don’t cry over spoilt votes
Do people go to voting stations to deliberately spoil their ballot? Some voters do exactly that, while other ballots are spoilt by mistake.
Ballots are spoilt when the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) counters are unable to identify the intention of the voter effectively. This can be due to the ballot being filled in incorrectly, words being written on it, several boxes being ticked or the ballot left unmarked.
The average number of spoilt votes in South Africa fluctuates, but the figure remains close to the global average of 1.6%.
This year, South Africa’s total number of spoilt votes has increased to 1.8%, or 386 906 from a total of 21 346118 votes cast. All provinces had more than 1% of spoilt ballots. North West and Free State recorded the highest number of spoilt votes, while Gauging and the Western Cape had the fewest.
President Jacob Zuma said he was looking forward to there being fewer spoilt votes this election. Spoilt votes are closely watched as they can provide an indication of political awareness and passive resistance, without being apathetic.
While some seem to endorse the idea as making an active statement, others believe that it is a futile betrayal and wasted opportunity.
Bet you haven’t heard of these parties before …
With 200 parties registered to take part in the 2016 municipal elections, voters have more choice than ever before, including a few choices which many may never have considered.
Campaigning for the youth vote
With municipal elections taking place next week, the top three contenders are vying for the youth vote. Earlier this year, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has expressed concern about apathy among young voters who make up 66% of the population according to Stats SA. (more…)
Wits Daso pulls out of “unconstitutional” SRC by-election
Wits Daso has taken a decision not to participate in the upcoming SRC by-elections, describing the elections as “unconstitutional”
It isn’t too late to register to vote
The two voter registration weekends may have passed but the registration process is still open for those who didn’t make it.
Newbie’s guide to the elections
Municipal elections are set for Wednesday August 3, and according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), there are almost 700 000 registered voters who will be voting for the first time.
What are Municipal Elections?
Municipal elections are for local government and take place every five years. They are to elect councillors for metropolitan councils in big cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town; local councils for towns such as Potchefstroom and Standerton and their surrounding rural areas; and district councils which coordinate a number of local municipalities in a region. These councils are responsible providing services such as water, electricity, and waste removal.
Why is it important to vote in the municipal elections?
It is the responsibility of citizens to vote for councils that they think will provide satisfactory services and access to resources in their area.
What electoral system is used in South Africa?
There are three main types of electoral systems in the world. The first is the Proportional Representation (PR) council where you vote for a party and the party gets seats according to the percentage of votes it receives. The different parties then decide which candidates will fill those seats.
The second is the Constituency based system where voters vote an individual to represent an area and the person who gets most votes is elected.
The third system, which South Africa uses, is the mixed system which uses a combination of the PR and constituency system.
How many ballot papers will I get?
The number and type of votes you have depends on where you live.
Voters who are registered in metropolitan areas will receive two ballot papers. The first one is for a party. The second is for a ward councillor who may be an independent, or be from a party.
For local councils voters receive three ballot papers: one for the party, another for a ward councillor and the last for a party for the district council.
Your rights as a voter:
You have the right to free and fair elections by being fully informed and deciding for yourself who to vote for.
As a democratic citizen you have the right to vote, no one should stop you from voting. However, you also have the right not to vote.
You have the right to choose which party or candidate you would like to vote for and no-one is allowed to try to bribe or threaten you to vote for a particular party.
You have the right to a secret vote where your vote is anonymous and where no one is allowed to watch you make your vote.
You have the right to get help to vote if you are blind, disabled or elderly by asking a family member, friend or election official for help.
You have the right to vote in a safe environment and the right to make a complaint to the Presiding Officer if you are unhappy about harassment or intimidation within the voting station.
Related articles:
“Importance” in the youth vote, Wits Vuvuzela, April 2016
Will the youth affect local elections, Wits Vuvuzela, March 2016
Social science students vote for transformation
A new student council has been voted into The School of Social Sciences and are acting for managerial transformation in the faculty.
LET’S TRANSFORM: Electoral groups are looking to transform management in The School of Social Sciences Photo: File
Despite shade thrown PYA stays winning
Nompendulo Mkatshwa and the various members of the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) were officially constituted despite false claims that Mkatshwa was not elected as president by branch general meeting (BGM).
Nompendulo Mkatshwa remains SRC president, despite false claims by individuals within PYA BGM that she wasn’t. Photo: Riante Naidoo
Friday saw the official constituting of the Wits SRC of 2016, despite a false allegation that a PYA BGM was opposed to the selection of Nompendulo Mkatshwa as president.
A media statement was circulated on Friday morning on PYA letterhead stating that the BGM did not elect Mkatshwa as president, later it was found to be a false claim.
Mkatshwa told Wits Vuvuzela that it was not PYA BGM who made those allegations but in fact ‘opportunistic individuals’ who decided to step outside of the democratic electoral process.
“Those are just individuals, that’s not PYA, those are opportunistic individuals who are just trying to disorganise the organisation, and we’re not going to allow that thing to happen,” said Mkatshwa.
Mkatshwa stressed that the PYA deals with matters internally, and will deal with this particular matter. She said that any individuals who spoke outside of the BGM did not want to respect democratic centralism.
“Being bestowed with the responsibility of leading students is the most humbling thing.”
On Thursday morning the PYA announced the various portfolio members of the SRC, and yesterday at 5pm the new members were officially sworn in.
Mkatshwa told Wits Vuvuzela about how she feels about being elected as president, “Being bestowed with the responsibility of leading students is the most humbling thing that anyone can go through or experience.”
On her excitement, “I’m humbled, I think it hasn’t sunk in yet,” describes Mkatshwa. The meeting which began at 6pm on Wednesday and ended at 4:30am on Thursday morning was an intense and grueling one.
Former SRC president Mcebo Dlamini noted on his Facebook page that it was a very strenuous process.
Other elected members include deputy president Motheo Brodie, secretary general Fasiha Hassan, deputy secretary general Thabo Boom and treasurer general Karabo Marutha.
Mkatshwa remains confident with her backing, “We have four organisations that will back us up in anything that we do, and we will deliver as the PYA and the SRC.”
“We’re not perfect,” said Mkatshwa. “We will stumble here and there and we will admit where we have stumbled, but at the end of the day we will do our utmost best to have the interest of students being put first.”
Timeline: the SRC campaign so far
On Friday the University of the Witswatersrand released a statement around the suspension of students and the exclusion of the Wits EFF society. This comes after a disruption that was initiated by the Wits EFF at the SRC debate which ended in a physical altercation between parties. It was the start of an unusual campaign season.
This year four parties registered to run for the 2016 SRC elections these included the Wits Economic Freedom Fighters, Project W, the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) and Democratic Alliance Students Organisation (DASO).
Cancelled SRC debate
Campaigning started off with a bang this year when the annual Student Representative Council (SRC) debate was cancelled after a fight broke out between parties.
Members of the Wits EFF filled the Great Hall stage dancing and chanting “No SRC!” The party continued to disrupt the proceedings of the debate.
The organisers, campus control head of investigations Michael Mahada, and campaign managers then went backstage for an emergency meeting. The group then came out and announced that the debate was cancelled. Chief electoral officer, Thembi Dlamini explained that the cancellation was based on a “collective decision”.
Exceptionally disappointed with the puerile & disruptive actions of Wits EFF. For Pete’s sake debate ideas & win argument through persuasion
— Kenneth Thobejane (@ramabifiT) August 22, 2015
Circus Flop
Then more confusion hit at what was supposed to be the first campaigning circus for the year. Only the PYA and a few Wits EFF candidates arrived at the FNB building on Wednesday. According to PYA’s Twitter account, supporters were requested to meet at 1:20pm at the FNB building, for an official election circus. But on arrival it seemed that there was no organisation for the event and only a few PYA candidates handing out pamphlets.
A handful of PYA members were handing out pamphlets encouraging students to vote for their party. When asked, the candidates told those that gathered that they were waiting on the party’s officials and the Independent Electoral Committee (IEC), none of whom showed up. PYA representatives told Wits Vuvuzela that, “It seems as though only Project W were made aware of the postponement, because it was only the EFF and the PYA that prepared for today’s circus.”
What seemed at first, to be a defiance of the cancellation to those who knew about it turned into a simple misunderstanding and miscommunication on the part of the candidates and their parties.
We will be at FNB today for the first official election circus, 1:20pm! Come through, meet your PYA candidates and hear why #PYALEADS!
— WitsPYA (@WitsPYA) August 19, 2015
The show goes on with circus at the Matrix
On Thursday the first organised and official campus circus was held at the Matrix on Wits East campus. Students were encouraged to question candidates on issues surrounding party mandates and burning topics related to the university. While at one point the EFF caused a bit of a disruption, all in all the circus went off with no major incidents.
Suspension of Wits EFF and students involved in debate disruption
On Friday the EFF were not at the second circus that was held at the Wits Medical campus. That evening at 6:30pm a statement was emailed to the Wits student body from the Council of the University of the Witwatersrand. The document gave comment on the decisions to suspend the Wits EFF as a society and said some of the students involved in the fighting at the Tuesday debate would be suspended.
@WitsElections @WitsUniversity has decided to expel us and remove @WitsEFF as a society at Wits KUBI!!!!!
— EFF expelled at wits (@lovezamazama) August 21, 2015
Varsity is a place where young intellectuals meet,discuss & bring new ideas, a hub for challenging the status quo so reinstate Wits EFF now
— Modibe J Modiba (@10dibz) August 21, 2015
Q&A with Phesheya Duma
Phesheya Duma. Photo: Nqobile Dludla
Chairperson of the Law Student Council (LSC), Phesheya Duma, is currently in his fourth year of study. He, along with the rest of the 2014/2015 LSC, are managing this year’s council campaigning and elections. He spoke to Wits Vuvuzela about the challenges of his position and advised students on what they should be looking out for in the new leadership.
What does the chairperson do?
I represent the council. I take everything that the council says and I articulate it. I don’t have a personal opinion, just like the council has no opinion. They take what the students say and we put it in office, and I put it to management. I take what management says and I bring it back.
What are the three biggest challenges you face as chairperson of the LSC?
The first is managing expectations. The second is persuading, and the third is giving bad news. When students ask, for example, about supplementary exam issues, we try and we try and we try, and we exhaust all channels. It’s always difficult to go back to the students and say, ‘listen, we tried’. They don’t see the steps that we took, and they always think that it’s not good enough.
What should students be listening out for during LSC elections?
Students should be listening out for the substance, for example, continuous assessments. A lot of the time in the law school, we have subjects with 50% weighting for a test and 50% weighting for an exam, that’s a problem. We’ve addressed some of these issues with admin law and contract law, and we now have continuous multiple choice questions throughout the year. Those are the things that are important, because those put a lot of pressure on you when you’re writing an exam. If you fail the first exam, you only have one other chance. In other schools, you have continuous assessments, we don’t have that here.
How have you managed the transition from having an undergraduate LLB, to only having it offered at a postgraduate level?
We were actually quite involved in the planning. Law firms and the school itself feels that when you come out of high school, you are not fully equipped or well-equipped to actually deal with the content of the legal degree. So what they now want you to do, is something else first and then do the LLB.
No vote flyers handed out at Wits voting stations
Students campaigning against the SRC (Student Representatives Council) elections today were seen handing out #WhyShouldWeVote flyers next to voting stations on the Wits Education campus.
A number of students from the campus have acted on their promise to boycott the elections this week as they feel their grievances are not being satisfactorily addressed by the SRC.
Some Wits Education Student Council (ESC) leaders have voiced their support for the campaign.
“We’re handing these flyers out to ensure people don’t vote carelessly, if they are not conscious of their vote, then why are they voting?” said third year student Bedney Morole. He explained that it was more of an awareness campaign for conscious voting or no voting at all.
Morole said that he would not be voting in this year’s SRC elections.
The flyers read “future teachers’ united #WhyShouldWeVote, we are sick of empty promises. Can we be taken serious [sic]?”
“I believe these flyers are a result of grievances from the students”, said Mokolwane Masweneng, Wits ESC Academic officer.
He said the ESC received grievances from the students and took them to the head of school, but they are still waiting for a response from the dean of student’s office.
“We are not against the parties that are running, but just bringing awareness to students,” said third year student Philip Hlatshwayo, who was handing out the flyers and abstaining from voting.
WHY VOTE: A student on Education Campus passing on flyers to make others think twice before they vote. Photo: Bongiwe Tutu
Numerous grievances
Manqoba Chungwane, second year Education student said: “We don’t even have options for food here, we can only buy from Olives and Plates which is very expensive, so we have to travel to main campus every day for lunch.
Third year Education student Themba Sibeko said ever since he was in first year, there has only been one Kudu terminal for printing. “We have asked for it to be removed from inside the library so that we can access it when the library closes, as it closes so early, but nothing was done. They don’t care about us,” he said in reference to the SRC.
“How can you have one Kudu Bucks machine for about 2000 students? And one ATM that never works! How can we ever vote when our voices are not heard?” said Thabiso Dlamini, another third year Education student.
“The students have the right to state their grievances and I support this campaign,” said Masweneng. “I am also not voting, I am representing the students” he said.
Wits ESC Grievances officer Xolani Khoza said the issue is about representation, “It doesn’t say we are not going to vote, but we want to know why we should,” he said.
Khoza would not say whether he would be voting or not, but said that he was in full support of the students.
“I am a student before I am a leader, and tomorrow we will go on for a full day of campaigning if our grievances have still not been answered,” he said.
Students from education campus have been voicing their concerns on the Wits Education Student Council (ESC) Facebook page.
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Wits Vuvuzela. Boycott talks not backed by Education Students Council. August 29, 2014
- Wits Vuvuzela. Education campus boycott SRC elections. August 27, 2014.
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