Stakes rise at annual STUKU debating tournament

Lara Oosthuizen

From 31 March to 2 April, the Student Culture Committee (STUKU), in collaboration with the University of Pretoria’s Debating Union (UPDU), held its annual debating tournament on Hatfield Campus.

The partnership and objectives experienced severe instances of abuse from their coach, Augustyn. Anastasia, a member of the team who can confirm these behaviours, offered PDBY their insights. Anastasia said, “Vis was very demanding, and it was a very traumatic experience. It was as if moot must be your life, and if it was not your life, it would be difficult for you.” Bolton confirmed that the Vis competition was indeed a hostile affair, stating, “There were many incidents in the Vis team, but I won’t deny that it [abuse] did happen for sure.”

Anastasia conceded that Augustyn did warn them about the stressful nature of the competition and offered information on mental health resources. However, she commented, “It is not helpful if he’s the trigger.” Augustyn was also known for using abusive language toward participants, on which Bolton said, “I only found out about three months after these incidents that these things were happening…we have taken great measures since then to rectify that by establishing wellness workshops. This can’t mend the wounds that have been created between current members [of that team].”

On these claims, Augustyn remarked, “I really can’t recall anything that would be crossing the line in terms of the harsh rhetoric… In terms of the experience being traumatic… I have been through the competition myself last year, and we didn’t change anything in terms of the coaching practices.” He continued, “I haven’t verbally abused a team member by, like, swearing at them.” According to Shanks, following the team placing second in Kenya, Augustyn did not congratulate the team on their accomplishment. Augustyn remarked, “We are not coaches who heap praise.” When asked whether Augustyn should coach moot teams going forward, Bolton responded, “It’s not uniquely my decision to make, but my position as it stands is to ban him from coaching, at least not to coach Vis again, considering the events that happened.”

Potential reform

In response to the above, Nienaber stated, “I am diametrically opposed to the idea of favouritism and have encouraged objective and professional selection processes in the society, where the best candidates are chosen for any position.” He continued, “[In] an effort to build our new well-being portfolio, we have taken steps and practiced decisive leadership in regard to the following new rules: ...if a member of a team, albeit a coach, speaker, or a researcher, is found to have taken part in any behaviour contrary to our code of conduct, the Moot Society would take the appropriate disciplinary measures, or ensure that the offending party faces the appropriate consequences.” In conclusion, he explained that the Moot Society has “constructed a new approach to external teams involving [the following]: a new code of conduct, a series of well-being initiatives and an external coach training programme, known as the Thuwaybah Moses Coaching Development Programme”.

Alex Mailola, equity and transformation officer of UPDU, stated that STUKU partnered with UPDU “to help facilitate and run a successful debating tournament”. UPDU held training sessions for the speakers as well as the adjudicators prior to the debating tournament, which was mandatory for all participants from the faculty houses and UP residences. According to Mailola, UPDU assisted STUKU in selecting motions relating to transformation, which was one of the main objectives of the tournament, [and] which either directly or indirectly affect[s] students at the University of Pretoria”. The motions ranged from the allowance of political paraphernalia at student protests to the supporting of South Africa’s decision to remain diplomatic with Russia despite the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Logistics: When it started and how it worked

The first debate of the tournament took place on 31 March and commenced after the welcoming committee greeted everyone and gave an equity presentation. The song “If the world was ending” by JP Saxe was played to introduce the first motion, “Assuming the world was ending in two days, this house would not inform the public”. The first debate of the tournament was friendly in nature, as the scoring for the knockout rounds only started on 1 April. STUKU announced the results of the qualifying structures that night in an Instagram post, as loadshedding prohibited the sharing of this information on campus. The knockout rounds started on 2 April at 08:00, where the qualifying structures competed for the title of best debaters.

The results

After a heated debate between Law House and House Humanities arguing the motion of South Africa remaining diplomatic with Russia despite the Russia-Ukraine conflict and international pressure, House Humanities won the debate and thus placed first overall in the tournament. Law House came in second, with Mopane taking third place. Mopane also placed first for best residence, with House Ukuthula coming in second.

When asked about their expectations for the tournament, Okuhle Mpepo, third speaker of House Humanities, stated, “I was kind of worried for my team because we didn’t necessarily know what we were going into or what to expect. [During] back and forth with some of the other teams, they said it’s more for fun than anything else, and I think that’s true. We enjoyed ourselves.” Whereas Thulaganyo Madumo, second speaker of Law House, stated, “Just given [...] the standard last year, I didn’t expect the tournament to be as serious. It was surprisingly very competitive, so shout out to STUKU for getting everyone involved. We had very good judging; it was really fun.”