by Ilanit Chernick | Mar 24, 2014 | News
THE Dean of students, Dr Pamela Dube, has confirmed this week that the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) will not be recognised as a Wits student society this year.
Dube said the EFF had submitted its application too late and as a result could not be accepted as a Club and Society Organisation (CSO).
Dube said it would need to reapply to the SRC at the end of the year.
The only reason the EFF was not accepted was because of its “late submission” and not for any other reason, Dube said.
Asked to comment, EFF member Tokelo Nhlapo said not allowing the EFF to operate on Wits Campus “is against our rights according to the South African Constitution”.
“The EFF is a movement that needs no recognition from an ANC-dominated SRC,” he said.
He made it clear they will contest this decision by the SRC and dean of students in the school council. The EFF will continue to run programmes and fight for free education on the Wits campus, Nhlapo said.
[pullquote]“The EFF is a movement that needs no recognition from an ANC-dominated SRC,”[/pullquote]
“The university students have embraced the EFF and they will continue to do so. We have five members on the Law Student Council – if Sasco [the SA Student Congress] think they dominate, they must think again,” he added.
He said there was still a review pending from the vice chancellor’s office.
Nhlapo said he believed the decision by the SRC was made for political reasons and not because their application was late.
He said the EFF submitted its CSO application a day before the due date, which was November 6, 2013. The SRC denies this.
SRC officer of clubs, societies and student governance, Sarah Mokwebo said the EFF had submitted its application too late. She also said the “SRC is here to protect students and CSOs”.
“We are not fighting this out of political intolerance. If any other unapproved student movement were to come to campus and run events without permission, we would not allow them to do so either,” she said.
Mokwebo said if the EFF continued to run programmes on Wits campus the dean of students would have to deal with them directly.
Earlier this year the SRC, which is dominated by ANC affliated members was accused by its political opponents of abusing its power in office to play “dirty politics” where recognition of clubs and societies was concerned.
ilanit@witsvuvuzela.com
by Nomatter Ndebele | Feb 21, 2014 | News
The SRC has agreed to review the decision to refuse recognition to Project W but the new organisation is already complaining the process is a “fruitless” exercise.
Initial decision
Project W’s Jamie Mighti complained that the process, which began with a meeting on Wednesday, will be unlikely to reverse the initial decision, made by the Progressive Youth Alliance-led SRC.
Earlier this month, Wits Vuvuzela reported that Project W and Wits Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) had been refused official recognition as clubs and societies by the SRC. Both organisations said their exclusion was politically motivated.
The review
The decision to exclude them is now being reviewed by the SRC.Dean of Students Pamela Dube told Wits Vuvuzela the SRC had “committed themselves to providing an opportunity for the relevant CSO’s[clubs and societies] to present themselves following the dissatisfaction with the outcome of the Initial process,” she said.
[pullquote]“So what is the point of having a review, if you are not going to review and if you are not actually going to follow the letter of the rules,”[/pullquote]
A pre determined outcome?
But Project W SRC member Jamie Mighti, claimed the process will be a “fruitless”exercise because SRC clubs and societies officer Sarah Mokwebo declared at the Wednesday meeting about appeal process that “I’ve already made my rulings and I’m going to stand by them” “So what is the point of having a review, if you are not going to review and if you are not actually going to follow the letter of the rules,”Mighti said.
“We’re going to make presentations before three or four SRC members, but only one [Mokwebo] decides what happens and makes recommendations. The one person who makes recommendations is the very same person who declined the societies in the first place,” said Mighti.
SRC Responds
Mokwebo told Wits Vuvuzela that she could not respond to allegations made against her since it was an “internal matter”. She referred questions to SRC president Shafee Verachia and SRC secretary Michlene Mongae. Verachia said he was in meetings and could not comment. Mongae did not reply to requests for comment.
Even if Project W is refused recognition, they may still have a reprieve Dube said the final endorsement of the SRC’s decision on clubs and societies would come from her office with some input from the vice-chancellor’s office.
Wits EFF member Tokelo Nhlapo said they were not aware of the review process and would not participate in it since they were not invited to by the SRC. Instead, they would be appeal directly to the dean of students.
[pullquote align=”right”]“We were told that if we didn’t reach quorum, we would just make recommendations to the SRC, but how can we make a recommendation to ourselves?”[/pullquote]
Project W SRC member Jabulile Mabuza told Wits Vuvuzela that the meeting the SRC held on Wednesday to review applications was problematic. She said the meetings did not have a quorum and so could not take decisions, only make recommendation.“We were told that if we didn’t reach quorum, we would just make recommendations to the SRC, but how can we make a recommendation to ourselves?”she asked.
Ghost form 6
She added that new forms needed to apply and not been provided to Project W. The form in question “Form 6” was not given to Project W at their initial application.
Mabuza added that the form does not exist, “Nobody knows where it is, or who has it,” she said. Mighti said that Project W would still make their presentation despite their complaints with the process. “We will follow their broken system, but we will point out that their system is broken,” he said.
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by Mfuneko Toyana | Feb 14, 2014 | News
APPLICATION DENIED: Vuyani Pambo, chairperson of Wits EFF, was upset by the SRC overplaying their hand. Photo: Nomatter Ndebele
ACCUSATIONS that the SRC is abusing its powers against political opponents have resulted in a review by the vice chancellor’s office.
The SRC, which is led by the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA), is responsible for officially recognizing Wits clubs and societies, including political organizations.
Two political organizations, Project W and Wits Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), have been refused recognition.
Both organizations have appealed their rejections and accuse the PYA of playing dirty politics.
Dean of Students Pamela Dube confirmed the SRC would hear the appeal and the vice-chancellor’s office “is looking into reviewing the process by which [clubs and societies] are approved.”
SRC secretary Michlene Mongae declined to comment to Wits Vuvuzela on the accusations.
Jamie Mighti, a Project W SRC member, said the PYA did not follow correct procedure during the application process.
“The SRC must give applicants a model constitution to fill it, but they didn’t do that,” said Mighti. He said Project W’s constitution was later rejected by the SRC because it was not in line with the model.
According to Mighti, new clubs and societies must appear at an SRC general meeting as a final step before being officially recognized or rejected.
But he said this was not done for new clubs.[pullquote]”Some of these people have political ambitions to lead ANC provincial structures, so they want to be seen to be shutting down the ANC’s opponents,” Nhlapo said.[/pullquote]
Mighti accused SRC president Shafee Verachia and Club and Society portfolio holder Sarah Mokwebo of making the decision to reject new clubs without consultations.
The SRC is made up of eight PYA members and six Project W members.
Project W accused the PYA members of the SRC of “banning” them to stop it from interacting with students during O-week.
Chairperson of Wits EFF, Vuyani Pambo, said their organisation applied two days before the application closing date but they did not even appear on the list of clubs and societies who had applied.
“It was as if we never applied,” Pambo said.
He said that when Wits EFF inquired about why they were not on the list, they were given contradictory explanations.
SRC internal vice president internal Paul Ndiweni said they applied late while Mokwebo said they had not applied at all.
Former SRC vice president Tokelo Nhlapo, who defected from the PYA to Wits EFF last year, also agreed that proper procedure had not been followed.
“The SRC is simply a ceremonial structure. It does not follow constitutional obligations,” he said.
“Some of these people have political ambitions to lead ANC provincial structures, so they want to be seen to be shutting down the ANC’s opponents,” Nhlapo said.
The PYA is an alliance between the ANC Youth League, Muslim Students Association and South African Students Congress.
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by Emelia Motsai | Aug 30, 2013 | Featured 1, News
Article by Emelia Motsai and Ray Mahlaka. Gallery by Mfuneko Toyana
Project W has broken the Progressive Youth Alliance’s (PYA) winning streak by scooping seven of the 15 SRC seats.
The results of the 2013 SRC elections were announced today at the Wits Great Hall piazza.
Newcomers Project W got almost half the seats on the SRC. Last year PYA won 14 of the 15 seats, losing only one seat to an independent candidate.
In 2011 they won all the seats on the SRC. The percentage of students who voted in this year was 24%, a 3.5% increase from last year.
Election results paper with candidates and the number of votes recieved. Page 1
Election results paper with candidates and the number of votes recieved. Page 2
Reactions from organisations
While the PYA narrowly maintains its majority on the SRC, with only eight seats, their shock was evident.
“They got seven seats,” said current SRC external Joy Phiri (@Joy_Phiri) who is a PYA member right after the results were announced.
Project W’s Jamie Mighti (@thenextbarack) said the votes reflected what students wanted.
“The students have voted, we’ve introduced democracy and excitement around politics in the university,” said Mighti.
When his name was announced in eighth position Mighti walked across the Great Hall stairs to where PYA members were standing and mocked them. They booed him in response.
[pullquote]“The students have voted, we’ve introduced democracy and excitement around politics in the university”[/pullquote]
PYA’s Shafee Verachia (@ShafMysta) the incumbent SRC academic officer got most of the votes. He garnered 2967 votes, 3.6 % of the total votes. PYA supporters cheered loudly when this was announced.
“I’m quite happy, PYA will pride its self in serving students,” said Verachia.
None of the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso) candidates made it in to the top 15, the first of their candidates came in at number 31 with 945 votes.
“We gave up half way through,” said Daso’s Dikeledi Selowa (@DK_Selowa) who was visibly upset.
University registar Kirti Menon made the announcement of the results. Menon said the results were fair and free and she congratulated all the candidates, even those who did not make it.
Students react to results
Students who were interviewed by Wits Vuvuzela did not seem to have a problem with the results.
“Project W will sharpen the PYA. We should be celebrating, we have sound leaders. I’m happy with the SRC results said,” Mcebo Sisulu.
Another student said he would have liked to see a 100% PYA SRC but he was ok with the results: “it’s a wake-up call [for PYA], as long as there is representation on both sides.”
Verachia said he was happy that there was more diversity in the SRC: “We will work hard with Project W to serve students.”
Mighti also said a functional SRC was possible even if it was run by Project W and PYA members. “It won’t be broken, it will work,” he said. The New SRC will begin its term on November 1.
The Wits SRC 2013/2014
1. Shafee Verachia – PYA
2. Angeliki Vidalis – PYA
3. Nelson Maunatlala – PYA
4. Jabulile Mabuza – Project W
5. Jarred Hart – Project W
6. Kay Mlaba – Project W
7. Ethan Genende – Project W
8. Jamie Mighti – Project W
9. Michlene Mongae – PYA
10. Gerry Comninos – Project W
11. Paul Ndiweni – PYA
12. Avigal Cutler – Project W
13. Kabelo Ngwenya – PYA
14. Sarah Mokwebo – PYA
15. Shoki Masha – PYA
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by Palesa Radebe | Aug 23, 2013 | News
by Palesa Radebe
THE SRC has called for a 24-hour health service on campus, following student complaints and demands for better health services.
At the moment Campus Health has four staff members servicing 30 000 students and 2 000 Wits staff members.
The biggest issue raised by students concerns its closing hours and the long waiting times to consult with nurses.
The campus clinic closes at 4.30pm and some students only finish their classes at 5pm.
SRC secretary Tasneem Essop said, as part of their action agenda, the SRC wanted the university to employ more nurses, increase working hours and have better resources.
[pullquote]”We want [to] increase resourcing, staffing, [and] two night nurses starting this year that will increase when the needs of the students go up,” [/pullquote]
“We want [to] increase resourcing, staffing, [and] two night nurses starting this year that will increase when the needs of the students go up,” Essop told the Wits Vuvuzela.
The SRC and Campus Health will approach Wits management jointly to ask for 24-hour health services. They will also ask management to increase staff within the division so they can remain open longer.
“If you increase your staff, you increase your working times,” said Essop. “Getting more staff will also get the lines to move faster, and less waiting time.”
Head of Campus Health, Sister Yvonne Matimba, is in favour of Campus Health remaining open 24 hours of the day. But she does not support the idea of nurses carrying medicine to different
residences at night.
“Nurses would easily become vulnerable at night, if they would have to walk around campus carrying a bag filled with medical supplies,” Matimba said.
Approached by Wits Vuvuzela, students said night nurses were needed on campus and that it would be valuable to have them around.
Boteng Maluke, 1st year Law, said: “Night nurses are not a bad idea. People need to be able to access nurses. I had a migraine and I didn’t know what to do. I just took pills but I needed medical attention.”
Amanda Nkhumeleni, 1st year BAcc, said she would like it if nurses were available for 24 hours. “If I get sick in the middle of the night, they call Campus Protection, and they take you to hospital which is far. It’s better to have a night nurse.”
The meeting with Wits management will be held in September and the SRC hopes to have night nurses available by the end of the year.
palesa@witsvuvuzela.com
by Nomatter Ndebele | Aug 23, 2013 | News
By Thuletho Zwane and Nomatter Ndebele
The SRC elections could soon become a legal battle as the PYA (Progressive Youth Alliance) and Project W take legal action against each other. Tokelo Nhlapo, SRC vice president internal, has laid an official complaint with the Wits Legal Office following a confrontation with Jamie Mighti, Project W candidate and former debating union chairperson.
The incident that led to the complaint.
[pullquote align=”right”]“He said I must be careful and I am skating on thin ice.”[/pullquote]
Nhlapo alleges that Mighti told him to be careful and watch his ways.“He said I must be careful and I am skating on thin ice.This happened when Nhlapo and Mighti had a political debate about an article Mighti had written about “blacks being lazy”. “My contestation with him is that he can’t say blacks are lazy because of our history,” Nhlapo said.
Nhlapo said he was also uncomfortable with the sexist remarks Mighti made a few months ago on the Wits Debating Union facebook page. Nhlapo told Wits Vuvuzela that he had lodged the complaint in fear of his life. “What I want from him is that he must stay away from me… he’s violent.”
Project W responds.
Accused: Project W member Jamie Mighti pictured here with Henry Masuku may have legal action taken against him.
[pullquote align=”left”]“He [Mighti]] is being crucified. They bring out his history and they try to score cheap political points,” [/pullquote]
During an interview with the Project W campaign manager, Cebo Gila, a female student approached him and said, “Guys, please control Jamie… he can’t go around picking fights”. Gila said Project W needed to “protect” rather than control Mighti. “He [Mighti] is being crucified. They bring out his history and they try to score cheap political points,”
Gila said the opposition was preoccupied with personal attacks against Mighti for allegedly being violent and sexist , using his “history” to undermine Project W instead of engaging with the manifesto of the student action group.
“When he is being provoked on a daily basis to the point that he is being crucified, he is going to react,” Gila said. Gila said that members of Project W were being intimidated to the point where “I feel uncomfortable wearing this T-shirt”.“Do you understand that we have been bullied, we have been forced to change strategy, we have been victimized, our volunteers are told we are puppets,” he said.Gila also raised concern that Project W posters were being torn down.
Project W allegedly receives financial assistance from management.
[pullquote] “completely false
accusations” [/pullquote]made against it.
SRC treasurer, Justice Nkomo, claimed that Project W had received R500 000 from Wits management. He said Project W misled the students because it presented itself as humanitarian.“They ran it [Project W] as a charity campaign but it has a political agenda,” Nkomo said. “They are collecting cans [of food] now; were people not starving in March and April?”
Project W is considering seeking legal avenues to deal with the“completely false accusations” made against it. Gila said that Project W never misrepresented itself. “The misconception is an incompletion of how they [the PYA] understand Project W,” Gila said.
Mighti declined to comment on the incident with Nhlapo and referred Wits Vuvuzela to Gila. Gila said the incident was “regrettable, from both parties”. Wits Vuvuzela was not able to reach the Wits Legal Office for comment.
Related articles : Top debater gets banned
by Caro Malherbe | Aug 16, 2013 | News
COLOURED SLOGANS: PYA candidate spray paints the tunnel. Photo: Caro Malherbe
THE PROGRESSIVE Youth Alliance (PYA) may have acted improperly when they painted the tunnel connecting East and West Campus as part of their SRC electoral campaign.
The PYA painted the tunnel on Monday with slogans urging students to vote for them. Lemese Abrahams, head of SRC Administration, told Wits Vuvuzela: “I would have to check if they asked for permission, but I was not aware the tunnel was painted. [pullquote]The tunnel should not be touched.[/pullquote]”
Abrahams said that the SRC and PYA have are only allowed to paint on the graffiti wall outside the Matrix “for freedom of expression purposes.” When told the tunnel had been painted with PYA slogans Abrahams said: “I will send someone immediately down to assess the situation. If that is the case, they will have to paint it over.” A representative from the PYA could not be reached for comment.
PYA member Nompendulo Mkatshcwa told Wits Vuvuzela on Monday during the event that the tunnel painting was done “to let students know that the PYA are still here.”
The PYA is made up of youth organisations such as, the South African Students Congress, Young Communist League, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and Muslim Student Association.
The tunnel was a canvas of vibrant, luminescent colours as members stood singing and spray painting the walls. “We are moving”, “Do Right!” and “Our Wits, Our PYA, Vote PYA”, were some of the things written in spray paint on the tunnel walls.
The candidates, some wearing various ANCYL and PYA T-shirts busted into song and dance while students walked through the tunnel, viewing the spectacle.
by Sibusiswe Nyanda | May 30, 2013 | News
THE MIGHTI LEADER: Jamie Mighti talks about his hopes for improved student-management relations. Photo: Prelene Singh
INCOMING Vice Chancellor Adam Habib has agreed to an open meeting between Witsies and management early next semester, to forge a connection between them and address student issues.
[pullquote align=”right”]“You have turned the university into your personal spaza shop and are holding us all at your mercy.”[/pullquote]
The meeting was suggested by Wits Debating Union’s president, Jamie Mighti, who criticised the SRC for failing to represent students adequately. The idea behind the town hall-style meeting is to give students a chance to speak directly to management, as “we’re losing touch with each other”.
He made the suggestion two weeks ago during an interview with Habib and Wits SRC secretary, Tasneem Essop on Talk Radio 702. The interview followed an open letter Mighti posted on social media. The letter went viral, getting over 960 “likes” and being shared by nearly 400 people on Facebook alone.
In his letter, Mighti said the SRC had “chosen to ignore the ‘R’ in SRC” and questioned some of the decisions made in previous months. He said the SRC, while not incompetent, had no vision, discipline or capacity to deal with students’ issues.
“I love many of the people on the SRC as individuals. They are great people and will do well in politics. But we have had enough of your politics at our expense. You have turned the university into your personal spaza shop and are holding us all at your mercy.”
He said he was worried the SRC was dividing students and “alienating” themselves (the SRC) from management. “We need collaboration versus confrontation with the university.”
Essop said while she could agree there had been a breakdown in communication between the SRC and students, it was unfair to suggest the SRC was not doing anything for them. “We’re just not good at advertising our success.
“It’s a fallacy that we don’t think of more immediate issues,” she said, responding to Mighti’s claim the SRC was more active in international activism than in tackling on-campus issues.
“We’re not trying to dispel student issues … we’re putting suggestion boxes around campus. We also have an open-door policy.”
Essop said the SRC was happy to be part of the town hall meeting, and that it was in their diary.
Related links:
Wits Vuvuzela May 10, 2013 Petitions, protests and perplexity
Wits Vuvuzela May 17, 2013 The charges against the eleven will not be dropped
Wits Vuvuzela April 26, 2013 SRC accused want a public trial
by Mia Swart | May 17, 2013 | News
WHILE University of the Witwatersrand students were signing pledges for an anti-gender based violence awareness campaign, a male member of the Student Representative Council verbally abused a female Wits Vuvuzela reporter.
Tokelo Nhlapo, SRC vice president internal, swore and shouted at journalist Emelia Motsai before other students told him to back away.
Motsai covered the campaign on Friday for Wits Vuvuzela. She was approached by Nhlapo who showed her a copy of the Wits Vuvuzela opinion article she had written.
“He shouted ‘Fuck the hell out of here’ and he shouted I must never take their pictures again”, she said.
According to Nhlapo, the reason for the outburst was an opinion piece written by Motsai that argued the SRC was using the students to further their own cause. Nhlapo said he was “taken aback”.
SRC secretary Tasneem Essop confirmed the outburst but said she didn’t think it was a gender-based incident. “It was an incident based out of anger based on a certain article,” she said.
Nhlapo admitted that he should have addressed his issues with Motsai better. “What was meant to be an attack on her views became an attack on her as a person,” he said.
“I acted out of frustration, anger and impulse. My act was foolish and I will apologise.”
Nhlapo said his outburst was personal and not in his capacity as SRC vice president. “It was me. I was hurt. I personally felt anger about the article.”
SRC president Sibulele Mgudlwa said the SRC denounced any form of assault, verbal or otherwise, on anyone.
by Mia Swart | May 10, 2013 | News
By Emelia Motsai and Mia Swart
WITS students have found themselves divided and confused by competing petitions between the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso) and the Progressive Youth Alliance-dominated Student Representative Council.
On Wednesday, the SRC was asking students to sign a petition demanding misconduct charges against 11 students, including nine SRC members, be dropped. At the same time Daso was petitioning for the charges against the eleven students to not be dropped.
The students were charged for contravention of the university’s code of conduct. The group was charged after disrupting a musical recital by Israeli-born pianist Yossi Reshef on March 12 as part of a protest during Israel Apartheid Week.
The SRC said they want the charges against them dropped because university management was attacking their right to protest. Daso disagrees with this claim.
“We do not think the SRC is above the code of conduct that students need to comply with. We believe that they should be disciplined,” said chairperson of DASO Wits, Dikeledi Selowa.
The organisations petitioned on both Main and Education campus. Selowa said they planned to get about 2 000 signatures for the petition. The SRC had endorsements for their petition from more than 100 organisations as well as asking students to sign.
HOT IN HERE: Sibulele Mgudlwa, president of the WITS Student Representative Council, and Dikeledi Selowa, chairperson of the Wits Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso) debate about the matter of charges against the SRC being dropped. Mgudlwa mocked Daso and said he felt so unthreatened by their petition that he would sign it just to increase their numbers, if he was not acting in his capacity as SRC president. Photo: Prelene Singh
The SRC asked students to sign their petition in support of the right to protest against issues that students are unhappy with such as housing.
A Daso representative told students: “The SRC must not have its own mandate. They must have a student mandate. They must be held accountable for their actions. We don’t have a problem with the protest. The issue is the manner.”
While the organisations stuck to their beliefs, students were divided over which petition to sign.
Perplexed students
Kirsten Chetty, 1st year LLB signed the Daso petition because: “The SRC shouldn’t have boycotted that way. You can make your opinions known, but to enforce it in that manner is wrong.”
Hunadi Mogaladi, 1st year Medicine, signed the SRC petition: “One of our human rights is free speech. If you are not letting people protest, then it undermines that right,” she said.
One student who signed the Daso petition, Ilanet Chernick , was one of the attendees at the concert on March 12. Chernick described her experience of the protest as “horrible”.
She signed the Daso petition because she believes the SRC should be held accountable and “cannot be allowed to get off”. Chernick, who is Jewish, said a lot of friction has arisen between Jewish students and the Wits Muslim Student Association.
But other students were confused about the petitions they were signing. “I don’t even know why I signed,” said a student just after putting her name to the Daso petition.
Her friend also signed the Daso petition, but soon afterwards asked for it to be taken off. “I thought it was for Palestine so I signed,” she said.
Another girl signed the SRC petition and then she told her friend to do the same because “the SRC was protesting against a lecturer who was charged for attempted rape.”
An SRC member corrected her.
While some students were signing the Daso petition sheets, other students refused to sign the sheet and said because the petition was organized by the “opposition” it might be biased.
by Mia Swart | May 10, 2013 | News
The Wits Student Representative Council (SRC) is pulling out all the stops to get misconduct charges dropped that could result in the dissolution of the SRC.
SURVIVOR SRC: SRC President Sibulele Mgudlwa claims intimidation. Photo: Mia Swart
The incident under scrutiny relates to the disruption of a musical recital by the Israeli born pianist Yossi Reshef. The disruption was part of a protest during Israeli Apartheid Week. Nine members of the executive of the SRC are charged for not going through proper processes for protests, creating a hostile environment and refusing to obey orders from the university.
These are among other charges such as pushing members of university security, aggressively stomping feet, shouting, chanting, failing to respect the rights and freedom of the attendees at the concert. In addition, they “demeaned and/or humiliated and/or created an environment of intolerance”.
SRC president, Sibulele Mgudlwa said: “According to the SRC constitution if you are found guilty, then you can’t be a member of the SRC.”
Outgoing Vice Chancellor Loyiso Nongxa, issued a statement saying senior counsel has been appointed to act in lieu of a student discipline committee to chair the hearing, and to carry out all of its functions. And “as such, he or she will make a decision as to whether or not to publish details of the disciplinary proceedings”.[pullquote]“It’s just an environment that is not conducive to student governance.” [/pullquote]
Nongxa said if someone is found guilty, the person presiding decides on “the appropriate sanction”.
The SRC as a whole could not be disbanded, but it will work on a “case by case” basis. If enough members are found guilty and asked to step down, re-elections could be held or the vice chancellor can appoint a temporary SRC council.
SRC Vice President External, Joy Phiri said: “Finding a guilty verdict directly suggests that it is inappropriate for student leaders to fight just causes and that in itself is a negative message that I don’t think the university wants to tag along to.”
Phiri said that the charged members would take all the legal recourse in their power. SRC vice president internal , Tokelo Nhlapo suggested that they won’t just step down but will appeal the case.
Mgudlwa said: “It’s an intimidating experience and it really hampers how you do your job.” He added that students come and ask for assistance but between assisting students, the SRC have to address the charges, organize protests, put together press releases and organize responses.
It’s just an environment that is not conducive to student governance.”
If there was an emergency SRC, it would take a whole month to organise as new nominations of candidates have to be called for, as well as submissions and manifestos.
The university has to check whether the students are registered students at Wits and if they are legitimate and credible candidates. After the nominations have been approved, the circuses and the voting process would follow.
It now has more than 100 endorsements to call for the university to drop the charges against them. The endorsements come from a range of organisations including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and South African Students Congress (Sasco).
