Is the SRC misrepresenting us?
Latest Print Edition (September 14)
LISA GOLDEN
The SRC’s decision to boycott Israel, academically and culturally, has made international news as the official voice of Wits students – even though the outgoing SRC was elected by less than 20% of the student body.
In response, Wits released a statement signalling concern that the SRC did not represent all students or the views of the University.
“The views and opinions expressed by the Students’ Representative Council and other student groups do not represent the official views of the University, nor are they an accurate reflection of the views of the majority of students, staff and alumni.”
The SRC’s stance was reported locally and internationally by papers like the Washington Post, with some online news agencies falsely reporting that the entire university had joined in the boycott.
The South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) has a strong presence at the university with almost 1000 Jewish students.
There are no SAUJS members in the SRC currently, although Wits Chairman Harry Hoshovsky said that the 20% voter turnout is a “clear sign of student apathy”.
“It is somewhat pretentious for the SRC to claim that it represents all Wits students, as barely one out of five actually voted in the elections and thus the SRC cannot be said to officially represent more than that number.”
SAUJS claims that the SRC is in contravention of its own Constitution, specifically section 8(1)(r). This section states that the SRC is duty bound to “initiate, undertake or stimulate discussion or debate or action, or to make its views known on matters of general concern that are likely to be of interest to or to affect students.”
The SRC made the decision to boycott after it was proposed by the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC). Fatima Mukaddam, SRC Fundraising and Entreprenuership officer, said the boycott action is in line with Wits’ ethics.
“Israel is a violator of human rights, and the occupation of the West bank is illegal under international law. If Wits and the SRC hold the values of respecting human rights then it is completely under the mandate of the SRC of boycott Israel.”
Just over 20% of the student body voted in the 2012 SRC elections. The IEC requires 25% of students to vote for a legitimate SRC, but when this quota is not met, the votes are then taken to the Vice Chancellor who then declares the elections valid.
Jabu Mashinini, the member of staff elected by the IEC to oversee the elections, said these percentages are acceptable given that “11,028 of the voters are post graduate students who are off campus most of the time”.
Tatenda Dune, a 1st year BA student said, “I think it’s unethical and incorrect for the SRC to represent us on such big issues, considering only 20% of the students voted. Ultimately they are representing a very small part of Wits.”
PYA dominates SRC again
Incumbent SRC president Tebogo Thothela.
Photo: Jay Caboz
The Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) fell one candidate short of a third consecutive clean sweep in this year’s SRC elections.
Wits Registrar Kirti Menon announced the results to over 100 students outside the Great Hall steps on Friday August 24.
Members and supporters of the PYA formed a circle and had been singing for at least an hour before the announcement. Of the 30 403 students on the voter’s roll there was only a 20% voter turnout, a 4% increase from last year.
The 2012/2013 SRC election results
The top 15 candidates will form next year’s SRC.
PYA candidates and members marched to the Matrix after the announcement to celebrate their victory. Torn campaign posters belonging to the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) were seen along the route they took although it is not clear who was responsible for this.
In a related issue, Dominic Khumalo, a PYA candidate, was apparently excluded from the elections, although the chief electoral officer confirmed that he submitted a letter withdrawing his nomination.
SRC election candidate claims election exclusion
A Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) candidate was apparently removed from the ballot list days before the SRC elections.
Dominic Khumalo, 4th year LLB, claims the Legal Office recommended his removal and the decision was made at a meeting between senior Wits management and the Dean of students on Friday August 17.
A notice outside polling stations warned students that voting for ‘candidate 5’ would spoil their ballot.
Earlier this year, Khumalo and fellow members of the Men’s Res house committee were suspended and temporarily evicted for misconduct, after they allegedly disrupted an inter-residence talent show during orientation week.
But Jabu Mashinini, chief electoral officer, said Khumalo withdrew his nomination, and has confirmed that she is in possession of a withdrawal letter from him.
“It was a personal choice. He decided to withdraw for personal reasons and we had to get permission from the VC because withdrawal for nomination had closed already,” she said.
Khumalo said he was not officially informed of the decision and went to confirm with deputy vice chancellor Yunus Ballim if the “rumour” was true. According to Khumalo, Ballim confirmed that he had been excluded.
Khumalo said he consulted with an advocate who advised him that a High Court interdict for the elections was his only form of redress. However, he did not get the interdict because it was expensive, and he did not want to seem power-hungry.
Khumalo said he had written a “very long letter” to the president and the Minister of Higher Education, and was waiting for a response.
Last year, Feziwe Ndwanyana , a PYA candidate, was excluded the day before the elections. She had been found guilty of misconduct during the student protest against fee increments in 2009.
Ballim and Prem Coopoo, dean of students, were approached for comment but had not yet responded at the time of going to print.
Published in Wits Vuvuzela 21st edition, 24th August 2012
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A student casts his vote during the voting period for the SRC elections this week. Voting hours were extended to allow for more students to cast their ballot for their candidates of choice. Students who voted were impressed by the campaigning of the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) and the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO).Campaigning tactics included posters, SMSs, door to door canvasing and other tactics.
Follow these links for more on the SRC elections
Akinoluwa Oyedele – Candidate claims election exclusion
A Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) candidate was apparently removed from the ballot list days before the SRC elections.
Zinhle Tshabalala – Witsies are indifferent about SRC elections
Less than 20% of Witsies generally vote in the SRC elections – and this week’s election is not expected to draw more than 23%, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Accountability within the SRC questioned
Photo: Akinoluwa Oyedele
SRC election candidates squared off on campus radio debating one party rule, amongst other issues, just a week before students cast their votes.
Representatives from the incumbent Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA), the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) and two independent candidates participated in a live election debate on Voice of Wits’ current affairs show Breaking Ground on Wednesday night.
DASO said open debate is restricted if there are not multiple parties in the SRC.
SRC elections will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday (August 21 and 22), with the PYA’s 15 candidates hoping to create a single party council for the third year in a row.
In minutes pinned on its notice board, the SRC lists as a concern “not being able to hold each other accountable on a proper platform”.
Erin Mc Luckie, DASO candidate, said the SRC would be more effective with management in solving students’ issues if it was more diverse.
“Currently, they are speaking about ‘PYA-led SRC’… it is easy to brush off one organisation,” she said.
Candidates in the debate pointed out the PYA is made up of diverse organisations, including the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) at Wits.
Earlier this month, the SRC negotiated for students who are neither able to afford the upfront registration fee nor qualify for financial aid, to be able to register for free for the first two weeks of term.
Despite this, Mc Luckie said there was “no doubt” the current SRC had done “good things” and independent candidate Welcome Lishivha said he gave credit where it was due.
The candidates also debated the SRC’s accessibility. Tiisetso Murray, an independent candidate, said the SRC’s “poor communication” prevented him from starting a club.
“It seems like the SRC forgot,” said Murray.
Pearl Pillay, PYA candidate, said the outgoing SRC, which had nearly 2000 followers on Twitter at the time of going to print, had been described as one of the best communicating councils students have had in years.
“If you tweet the SRC and you do not get a response in 10 minutes maximum, then either Vodacom or your network is down, or the SRC has crawled into some cave and I don’t see any caves at Wits,” she said.
Published in Wits Vuvuzela 20th edition, 17 August 2012
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Wits SRC hopefuls battle for votes – Video
Candidates outside the Wits Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) are hoping to avoid a third consecutive clean sweep for the party in this year’s Student Representative Council (SRC) elections.
Election campaigning was officially launched on Tuesday 7 August at a circus outside the Matrix. Less than 40 students braved the snow to listen to candidates from the PYA, the Democratic Alliance Student Organization (DASO) and independent candidates.
The Wits Congress of the People Student Movement (COPESM) did not nominate any candidates. Mukondeleli Mphigalale, chairperson of the Wits COPESM, said the party was dealing with internal structural issues, and would be back in SRC elections next year.
Voter turnout in last year’s elections was just over 16%.
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Election results: PYA bags it all, once again
THE Progressive Youth Alliance walked away with all 15 seats on the Student Representative Council after last week’s elections.
The successful candidates celebrated their second consecutive victory to represent students on what should be the most powerful student council on campus at the Matrix on Friday.
PYA electoral spokesperson, Shimi Matlala, said the key strategy to their success was to be on the ground with the students, going door-to-door encouraging students to vote for the PYA.
“PYA candidates sacrificed a lot of their academic time and focused on elections during the election week and despite the problems we faced with Fezile’s exclusions and readmission, we were still on the ground with the students,” Matlala said.
Chief electoral officer, Jabu Mashinini, confirmed that the election outcome is final and was not contested during the course of this week.
“The new SRC will commence office on November 1 2011. For now they are working behind the scenes,” said Mashinini.
Independent candidate Tiisetso Murray didn’t make it onto the SRC this year, despite a rigorous election campaign around campus and at the election circuses.
Murray said his main focus was to change the brush strokes that the PYA has painted Wits management with and to aim for discussion rather than outright strikes and calling people racists.
“No one likes being called a racist, so I think discussing issues with management would yield far better results than what has been done in the past,” Murray said.
The independent candidate encountered some problems during election week. “I put posters up around campus but many of them were taken down and I don’t know why or who did that. I went from having 30 posters to only 3 on East Campus alone.
“I placed some of my posters around where my oppositions had placed theirs, but only mine were taken down.
“I also think the circuses were not well located although they were very well run. Why was the West Campus circus placed outside the library as opposed to outside the FNB building, where there is a lot of student traffic, or the Amphitheatre, a place where students traditionally hang out?”
Murray also said Vuvuzela was not doing enough to raise awareness during elections as a campus newspaper.
“The Vuvuzela should have helped in getting candidates out there to tackle voter apathy,” added Murray.
The last PYA-lead SRC has been accused of not being fully representative of Wits students and focusing more on the needs of students who are either on financial aid, living at residences, or those who suffered the chop by Wits’ edge through exclusion .
Securing ATMs on campuses that have none, looking into internet access in lecture rooms and finding ways to assist students who travel far each day, are some of the issues the new SRC plans to make a priority, according to Matlala.
The final voter count for this year’s SRC elections totalled a mere 4871, meaning just over 16% of Witsies took to the poll.
“A lot of the students complained this past SRC was not visible to students and that is an issue we plan to tackle by including more students in the processes within the SRC, so that we can be more relevant and encourage more voter participation next year,” said Matlala.
Mashinini will meet the 2011/2012 SRC to discuss portfolio allocations today.
SRC Elections 2011 :PYA candidate excluded from elections race
Progressive Youth Alliance candidate, Feziwe Ndwanyana, has been excluded from participating in the 2012 Student Representative Council (SRC) elections taking place this week, on Monday-the eve of elections.
Ndwanyana was excluded because Wits management found her guilty of misconduct originating from the student protest against fee increments in 2009.
A meeting with the university registrar, the Wits legal office and Ndwanyana was held on Monday morning. After the meeting, Ndwanyana spoke to the campus radio station, Voice of Wits (VoW FM).
“It was really confusing for me and I asked them, why are you telling me this now? Because it seems like I am hand-picked. There are many other people who were charged with me and they don’t know what happened with their cases.
“So basically I was telling them it is very opportunistic for them, at this time, to say that I am disqualified from running for the elections.”
The PYA explained that Ndwanyana was informed of a hearing held in December 2010, at which she was to appear pertaining to the charge of misconduct by the university.
“She could not attend the hearing due to a cultural ceremony she was involved in at her home in the Eastern Cape. She explained this to management and the hearing was held without her being present.
When she asked about the hearing, she was told the proceedings could not be disclosed until the verdict was released,” said PYA Spokesperson, Godfrey Maja on Monday morning.
On Saturday, August 20 -the weekend before the start of elections- Ndwanyana was told of the outcome of her hearing and that she had been disqualified from participating in the SRC elections.
The PYA accused Wits management of racist, “evil tactics” saying the timing the delivery of their candidates’ guilty verdict was motivated to silence them. The party applied for an interdict to stop elections taking place this week, pending the outcome of an appeal lodged by Ndwanyana against the hearing outcome.
The statement released mentioned: “….We know we are the most outspoken when it comes to the worker’s oppression and racism at Wits! We are the most vocal on policies and decisions aimed at excluding poor (predominantly black) students from the university!
“For these reasons and many others, it’s clear that this exclusion of our candidate is politically- motivated and was orchestrated a long time ago. It’s a ploy by this arrogant and racist management that is longing for the years of Apartheid…”
The outcome of the interdict is yet to me released as Ndwanyana appeals the decision take by Wits management.
SRC election circus
The SRC circus took place this week.
THE Wits Student Representative Council (SRC) candidates held their electoral circus to deliver manifestos and campaign for votes this week.
The key issues raised this year were academic exclusions and economic inequalities on campus.
Candidates of the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA), The Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso), Cope Student Movement and one independent candidate, Tiisetso Murray, addressed students outside the Commerce Library on West Campus.
Murray noted that more students were walking past rather than being part of the electoral debate and that voting has declined over the past years.
“The problem [at Wits] is that … we are the playground for the political parties that are outside the university. We need to have people who represent the students at the top and who aren’t following an agenda of people from the outside; people who won’t be voting out their president because he doesn’t believe in Julius Malema,” Murray said.
The crowd seated outside the library broke out in applause and hands went up enthusiastically to pose questions to Murray.
Klaas Mokgomole , a2nd year law student, said: “ I am very sure that your are not at res and don’t know the conditions at res, secondly, I’m sure you are not using financial aid and don’t know how it is to be a financial aid student, that’s what I get from you. So, my question to you is, how are you going to function in the SRC because you will be alone in the committee, so how will you make change?”
Murray rebutted, “Res students are not the majority of students at Wits and if the SRC only represents res students then are they appropriately representative? The university is not made up of res students only, day scholars are also part of the university and they have needs too.”
The PYA emphasised the record-breaking success it had last year ,in which it held all 15 seats on the SRC, and in helping 67% of excluded students attain readmission into the university. The possibility of the students who return after exclusion being successful after readmission was questioned when the floor was opened for questions.
PYA candidate Kabelo Ramathesele’s response was, “We look at the reasons that caused a student to end up being excluded. Most of the students are excluded due to situations at home. We help them out of their compromising situations, whether it’s financial or someone has passed away. We find the counseling that is appropriate in those [areas]. We have a rate of students who have come back, passed, graduated and are successful today.”
Daso candidate Mohammed Sayanvala delivered their manifesto, saying it is driven by the DA’s vision for an open opportunity society for all, despite having heard people during campaigning on campus saying that the DA does not recognise the inequalities that exist among students on campus.
“As the Daso SRC, we would like to work with management and not against it. How far have protests gotten us with regards to issues like financial aid? On the issue of exclusions, having so many students excluded and then brought back into the university is a waste of resources. What we need to do is tackle the issue from the source, by finding out why students are being excluded, assist them to pass and provide the opportunities to them.”
Cope Student Movement candidate, Bandice Ngidi, was questioned on why he was a one-man show when his party has more than one candidate running for SRC elections.
Elections take place on August 23 and 24. Election circuses will continue on Main Campus next week.
DA mayoral candidate campaigns at Wits
“SMILE like this,” said one student holding a DA pamphlet next to the face of Mmusi Maimane, who was campaigning at Wits last Friday.
Vuvuzela had a chance to interview the DA’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg while he spoke to Witsies on the library lawns, handing out pamphlets and having heated debates with some students.
“Our democracy is like a boyfriend you can’t get rid of,” he told Witsies lounging on the lawns.
“Even if you don’t like me, just vote for the sake of democracy.”
Maimane said if a party is not performing they should be removed from power.
“Witsies should not have to belong to certain political parties to secure jobs,” he said, encouraging students to take the elections seriously.
Maimane has been criticised by the ANC for being too young and not having any political experience.
“Experience should be treated very carefully and youth is relative,” he said on Friday.
He said there are other DA candidates the same age as he is and even party leader Helen Zille didn’t have political experience when she started.
Maimane holds a masters degree in theology and is currently doing a second masters degree in public administration. He also studied at the Wits Business School.
Talking about what he would bring to Johannesburg if he were elected mayor, he said: “I want libraries to have free internet for young people and a transport system that runs from Orange Farm to Sandton.”
He said municipal administration should be corruption free, more efficient and free from politics.
“People have to be assessed on their work, whether or not I like you.”
Some of the students at the campaign said it was nice to have a politician who doesn’t “uhm and ah” when he talks and that has realistic goals.
S. Ganede, a 2nd year BA student, who debated strongly with Maimane, said: “He impressed me with his rationale. I’m going to endorse him.”
Fellow 2nd year BA student, L. Leketi, mirrored Ganede’s impression of the mayoral candidate.
“I am very impressed with him and how he interacts with people.”
Blackwash Boycott
THE municipal elections have come and gone. One group of students will not be holding their breath in anticipation of a change in the status quo.
Blackwash Wits is a black consciousness movement whose aim is to make black students aware of what they call “the inequalities that still prevail”.
For the past few weeks they have been busy with campaigns on campus aimed at encouraging black students to shun the polls.
They believe the elections will not do anything to change the plight of the black students, and therefore taking part in them would be a waste of time.
Lubabalo Mgwili, a member of the working committee, says “we are challenging the whole concept of voting. No party is capable of effecting any meaningful change for blacks.”.
He says the problem the parties face is that whoever is in power find themselves having to work within the same constitutional and legal framework that limits black advancement.
The framework advances white interests and has always been like that, since 1994 when the country attained freedom, he says .
“We cannot celebrate the right to vote, when it is derived from the same constitution Constitution that protects stolen wealth.”
Hlompho Sephaka, a 4th year engineering student, says the organisation is regressive and their attitude does not help build the country.
“Who still holds views like that? Hello! Its 2011!” she says.
Mutombo Lubombo, a masters student in geography, says he understands where the organisation comes from.
“I am not South African, but I have lived here long enough to notice that this democracy is not benefiting the blacks at all…what have all the other elections done?” he asks.
When Mgwili was asked for his opinion on the statement Julius Malema made, to the effect that whites are criminals because they stole black peoples’ land, his response was:
“Malema practicses double standards, and he is a hypocrite. He belongs to the same party that is taking so long to give blacks back their land, but he thinks he can say something like that in public. This is just electioneering.”
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