17 October 2016 Issue 17 Year 78

The legal side of protesting: know your rights - pg. 11

Perdeby Tuks se amptelike studentekoerant / Official Tuks student newspaper / Kuranta ya baithuti ya semmušo ya Tuks

17October2016

year78issue17

Behind the Fees Must Fall shutdown Exclusive interviews with representatives of the UP Fees Must Fall movement and UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof. Cheryl de la Rey

Best ice-cream parlours in Pretoria - pg. 14

Prof. De la Rey addresing students during the 2015 Fees Must Fall. Photo: Shen Scott

MICHAL-MARÉ LINDEN The University of Pretoria has come under fire in recent weeks for a lack of engagement. Perdeby spoke to UP’s Vice-Chancellor and Prinicipal Prof. Cheryl de la Rey about the university’s views on the protests, the implications for the university and the way forward.

What are the university’s views on free, quality, decolonised education?

Let me start off with the last part of that. The issue of the decolonisation of the curriculum came up earlier in the year and you will recall that a number of issues around transformation were raised. Out of that process we developed the work-stream model and there is one on the transformation of the curriculum which Prof. [Norma] Duncan [Vice-Principal: Academics] has been leading. There have been several meetings and already I know [that] Humanities, they have a transformation committee, they’ve been looking at it. So that’s not a new issue at UP; it’s part of the process.

[But] what sparked this protest? It’s actually very important that I make the point that the single event is a statement by the Minister [of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande]. There was nothing that the university announced that would lead to a protest or the academic disruptions. It was the announcement by the Minister. And, in fact, prior to that announcement, I had been having discussions with the SRC about the matter, and, including on the day of the announcement, just before his announcement, I met with the SRC where we agreed that we would have a wide engagement process. And when the protests first started, or at least when I was alerted to it, we were about to start a meeting with

the chairpersons of all the academic councils to discuss exactly that.

The issue of free university education is a very laudable one and we discussed it at the Senate meeting only very briefly recently and the Senate, in principle, supported it. But it requires a lot more depth when you then begin to ask, “What do we mean?

Should it be free for all students?

Or should it be free for those who are poor and those who really can’t afford the full cost of a university education?”, and that’s the debate that was interrupted.

What do you feel, then, is the next step in this situation?

The issue of the primary call in the national protests is free university education and that is not a decision within any one Vice-Chancellor’s control. It’s a matter of public policy and I say public policy because, yes, the government can make a decision but ultimately it’s a matter that affects all citizens of this country; because if we look at school education, it’s not entirely free. You have designated schools where they are using a framework [that] learners in those schools don’t pay school fees but if we look at who comes to our university, the majority are coming from schools that do pay some sort of a fee. If we go to completely free, it would require that the state subsidises that part of the university’s costs and that is, for us as a university, about 28% of our existing funds which, in rand terms, is a huge amount of money. So, state subsidies would have to compensate for what we would normally get in annually for fees.

Would you say that the ball is now in the government’s court, then?

Absolutely. It’s in the government’s court and I’ve said that to everybody that’s asked.

Continued on page 3.

Protesters gather on Prospect street. Photo: Fezikile Msimang

HUVASAN REDDY With UP’s campuses having been shut down for over a month by the UP Fees Must Fall movement, many have had questions about who the leaders are, what the movement actually hopes to achieve and if their call for “free, quality, decolonised education” is actually viable. Perdeby spoke to UP Fees Must Fall representative and former SRC President Mosibudi “Rassie” Rasethaba about the movement, and the role it plays in the protest action.

Who is UP Fees Must Fall and who do you represent?

We need to understand that UP Fees Must Fall does not exist in a vacuum, but we are part of a broader national movement which is calling for free higher education, or free decolonised education, I think from early childhood all the way to tertiary education. We’d like to believe that we represent the voices that are unable to speak for themselves, the many students that have not been able to make it to university. We speak to the poor child who [can’t] afford his fees at the university; we speak to the child that has been excluded from the university, but we don’t believe that we hold timeless truth, but we do believe that the cause we’re fighting is a just one. Our fight also includes other societal struggles.

What are the demands of UP Fees Must Fall?

The demands of UP Fees Must Fall are our own internal demands, together with the [national] demand.

We kept our memorandum short, but it actually has a lot of things to unpack. Number one was the lifting of all suspensions of all students that have been participating in the call for free decolonised education, number two, we are calling for mass engagement with the university

executive, including the council, so that we can talk and we can chart a way forward on how we are going to commit ourselves to the call for free decolonised education as a university and commit ourselves to free education, and the third one is a bunch of things: we put it under the banner of decolonising UP. Now this includes our res culture, curriculum issues, a bunch of things that happen on campus, obviously the process of outsourcing has also started. There is a national call that we are making.

We are calling for free decolonised education. As we know government is the one who is supposed to be the service provider, and really being the one to facilitate the realisation of free decolonised education. We are also calling for the demilitarisation of our campus. We are calling for the decommodification of a university degree. We are also calling for the state security services, SAPS and SANDF, to handle protesters in a different way, even in the future, not just for the student movement at the moment.

What does free, quality, decolonised education mean?

It means the decommodification of education. At the moment we find ourselves in a country or even in a global economy where education is commodified. Our cry is that education must be seen as a social good, and because it’s a social good it must be decommmodifed. The issue around decolonisation, it talks about ridding our university, our primary schools, our high schools, in South Africa from our colonial history which works to see [some] as more deserving than others, to subjugate people, and to [promote], at the same time, a Western idea. We are saying that we need to re-enter that, and focus on ourselves.

Continued on page 4.

UP scoop second place at Varsity MTB Challenge - pg. 19

Interview with Twin Atlantic’s Ross McNae - pg. 14

P

Become a sport writer for Perdeby - pg. 18

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Perdeby

Editorial | 17 October 2016

What happened to open minds, open hearts?

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When thinking about what to write about this week, I was very hesitant to address anything protest- and fee-related. With so many news reports and comments flooding social media, I’ve almost reached my limit of opinion, never mind adding my own two cents. But how could I not speak about the biggest thing to rock our campuses in months?

There have been two things on my mind the last week and I’d like to share them with you.

The first has to do with the negative reactions of so many people on social media. I’m in no way commending the violence or destruction, but I’ve been saddened by how quickly people have dismissed and rolled their eyes at a genuine issue. I know you want to go back to class (I really want normality too) and I know that free, quality education seems like an impossibly high mountain to climb (I haven’t much understanding of economics, so to me finding the finances seems scary), but these protests are the outcry of desperate

people. These are people who constantly live with the stress we all feel now because they do not know how they will pay tuition or any other living expense through the year, let alone if they will return the following year when they (again) don’t have the money to register. It is not as simple as getting a job or working hard.

South Africa has this awful catch-22 situation in which you need a tertiary education to get a job that will pay enough to support yourself and pay your tuition fees. Any menial job will require you to sacrifice precious study hours in order to make enough to just feed yourself. Don’t forget how unfair it is for your family to live in poverty back home while you manage to keep yourself afloat at university, should you magically find a job that pays enough (or even half of what you need). A student should never have to deal with this stress, ever. To those that keep telling me that tertiary education is a privilege, the fact that we need a degree to get a decent job makes it not a privilege, but a necessity.

And yet, there are so many people happy to sit back in their comfortable homes and tell these students that they’re entitled, lazy, asking the impossible, or not considerate of other’s (more important) needs. These protests have revealed a lot of corruption and injustice in our country: people feel offended that university students are protesting for free tertiary education when our basic education is a joke or people still sit without housing. These are also genuine issues, but really, if you were so upset about these things before, why have you not started your own protests? These students are making a move to improve something that currently affects them. They have not done as so many of us have done and accepted poor standards or high rates because “what else can you expect from South Africa” or “that’s just the way it is and we should grin and bear it”. In 2014 the government promised free education and they will not accept empty promises.

The least we could do as fellow citizens is open our hearts to this genuine need and appreciate that these students are acting on behalf of all current and future students.

How has our default become pitilessness, indifference, coldness? I would love for my parents not to have to fork out thousands every year to pay for my degree. I would equally love

Letter Dear Editor, Throughout the course of the #FeesMustFall movement, there has been devastating silence on the topic of academic snobbery. Although leaders of the movement will argue with gusto that their crusade is about inclusion above all else, they fail to see their own underlying elitist assumptions. If, as movement leaders will have us believe, there is money available in the country for funding all of this free university education, why is it that higher education is the sector most deserving? They claim that as student leaders their priority is university students, but what about their civic responsibility?

If the country has so much excess disposable income, why should qualifying individuals be granted free tertiary education? Why should that money not rather be put into primary education?

Or health services? Or infrastructure development? Or service delivery?

Because an elitist agenda is being served by individuals too self-righteous and arrogant to take note of the rest of the country.

Notwithstanding the fact that dangerously little has been said about skills development, the driving agenda seems to be to produce more tertiary graduates.

Not at any point have we questioned

what the country is supposed to do with more graduates, even though the reality is that graduate unemployment levels are at similar levels as general unemployment.

This is a question riddled with a multitude of different facets and the fact that only two factions (those arguing that education is a “right” not a privilege and those opposed to it on grounds such as a “meritocracy” and fiscal pressures) have really come to the fore should be disturbing. It shows very clearly that our “leading thinkers” are lazy. Taking a hard line on any side of this absurd fence, is an easy way out, as is any form of fundamentalism.

In closing, have you ever wondered why only university students are brandishing this sword, and not matric pupils (supposedly being the future university applicants)? Because not everyone wants to go to university. Because not everyone has blindly bought into the idea that universities offer the absolute height of knowledge.

From the Editor never having to worry about tertiary education fees if I ever have children one day. One day when we do have free education, you too will be thankful for it.

That is why I have chosen to look at this situation, and all the other bad situations in the country, with a positive outlook. I will not be negative and dismiss them, but rather empathise with those that are struggling and add my voice behind those that need support and use this opportune moment to engage with others to create a plan. Because that is what we need – not a dismissal or acceptance of mediocre circumstance, but citizens willing to engage with each other and formulate a plan in unity and concern for each other and to demand better standards and a fulfilled promises.

This brings me to my second thought.

In order to formulate a plan, we need to communicate with each other. I can’t say that anyone’s communication has been great in these protests. At times it feels like everyone is speaking past one another. Protesters don’t seem to have clear leaders and it has taken time to construct a concise memorandum (and even then I’m not entirely sure everyone agrees with it). The university has left us hanging every day for ages while we wonder whether campus will be open the next day or if we will have class. But, worst of all, the government has expressed very little interest in actually listening to student concerns.

Telling students there is no money for free tertiary education is not engagement. If the ball is anyone’s court, I believe it is in the government’s – this moment is critical and ignoring student needs is not going to make them go away. Perhaps they’ve gotten used to be being unchallenged in the same way we have got used to dismissing genuine needs.

I know I can’t solve this problem alone and “free tertiary education” is not a solution in itself. We need a feasible, detailed plan and I believe there is one. But what we need first is a little more care and a little more conversation so we can move forward instead of becoming complicit in our roles as citizens.

Open your mind, open your heart Michal

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It is time to take stock and consider what is best for the country and its future. We need to push the boundaries of our own assumptions and apply lessons from the past.

With respect, Tasch

@PerdebyE

17 October 2016 | News Continued from front page.

I cannot make a declaration on fees or it being completely free. My job is to think about the sustainability of the university and, should there be no tuition fee at all, we would have to have a subsidy from the government to offset that amount for us as a university.

What are the implications of shutting UP down now academically, financially, and so on? Some individuals have expressed concern to Perdeby that they rely on the university as a source of additional income as they are hired as invigilators for university exams yet they might not get that income if there are no exams.

Let’s just go back in time. It started about four weeks ago. We were close to recess. So the issue of an early and extended recess was the first decision we took. If we were able to begin a full academic program on 10 October we would have been able to run classes in a more condensed way with tests being rescheduled and complete the academic year with the final examinations.

With the disruptions that happened then on the 10th, we’ve had to sit down and think [about] how we complete the academic year. What has helped us is that, as you know, we have a hybrid learning system in place and so when we looked at the alternatives, in the current situation it became clear to me that the entire national system continues to be volatile. In fact as we speak, look around the country – more campuses are closing on a daily basis and if we look at the violence, it is becoming more extreme, look at the degree of arson, the burning of laboratories and the like. It became clear to me that we had to look at alternative ways of completing the year. So that’s where our teaching approach, I think, has given us an opportunity to make sure that we offer teaching and study material to all students and to make arrangements for each specific programme, obviously the fixed postgraduate students differently to undergrads, final-years differently to first-years and the likes. So it’s very complex to make alternative arrangements. But that’s what we’re looking at and we’ve rescheduled the final examinations.

It would be disastrous not only for UP students, but for the country [not to finish the academic year]. What happens if we don’t graduate doctors? All the doctors go out after being in lectures and they basically service the poor communities in that year after they leave us. Where would that leave the poorest of the poor in terms of health care; teachers going into the schooling system and the like? Again, this is not simply a UP issue; it’s not an issue of a set of individual students; it’s a public matter. We have a group of students leaving the school system. If this year doesn’t conclude what happens to the [2016] school leavers? So it is a national crisis.

And I think it deserves national attention and as a matter of urgency.

Universities are not just about permanent staff and students. The impact of the university is far beyond our gates. We have a major impact on the economy of the Tshwane metro. On a daily basis we have functions on campus. To run those functions, a huge number of service providers from caterers to people who run sound systems [are needed] and if we don’t operate at all, their livelihoods are affected.

It’s not just a matter of 50 000 students and 5000 staff, or 60 000 students if we count the distance education. It’s a matter of the ripple effect on the local economy and for the Tshwane metropolitan area, it’s huge because it’s us, it’s [Tshwane University of Technology (TUT)], and SefakoMakghato [Health Sciences University].

You can imagine, three major institutions, we’re the largest research institution in the country, TUT is the largest university of technology, the impact on the local economy is huge. That’s why I’m calling it a national crisis.

Is there perhaps a fear among staff that we don’t open next year?

We have a collective will to do so because our job is to serve the public; we are a public institution. I said when I addressed staff the other day that when times like this face us, there are two characteristics that matter. The one is [that this] is a test for our resilience as

3 an institution. The second issue is that if we are innovative, we can see this through. We now must ask ourselves, “What innovative, creative ways can we make sure that we deliver to our South African public as a public university?”

What measures do we have in place to write exams come 14 November?It may be faculty specific but is there the possibility of writing on campus?

Yes, there is. I remain hopeful that the national situation will resolve itself before we start with the exam timetable, which has been announced, in November so I’m optimistic and remain optimistic that before that, we will find stability in the system. So Photo: Michael Ridge writing examinations on campus is of consideration the interests and the perspectives course how we normally do it and how I would of all the students, not a small minority of like to do it this year. students and from what I can see on the Hatfield Is UP currently in talks with the government? campus, the consistent number has been about Oh, absolutely. You know, all the Vice200. We have had [that] during the course of Chancellors are in talks with, chiefly, the the protest that number building way beyond Ministry of Higher Education and Training. that to maybe 1000, 1500, I’m really estimating.

Many of us, including the business sector, the But to be quite frank, every effort we’ve made public, were at that meeting the Minister [of to hear the voices of all students has been Higher Education and Training] called where disrupted. And as I said, this is a public issue; the students rejected what the minister put on every person’s perspective should be heard and the table. But that’s an ongoing process and, as that’s what democracy is about. This democracy I said, the final decision rests with government was hard fought for and many people died in the and whatever the way forward is, we will have process and we must honour the principles, and to be part of it.

Has there been any engagement with the also, that’s what universities stand for. We might parents? not like somebody’s perspective but they have Yes. Firstly, the majority of students have a right to express their view, to have it debated, reached the age of majority so they’re over 18. and thereafter, we’ll craft a way forward and that So the university always has to think carefully right has been disrupted. before you communicate directly with parents.

Would you say then that UP is committed to We had to initially look at our systems for hearing all views and wouldn’t necessarily communicating with parents because our system side with the protesters? One of their was structured to communicate with students. So demands is that UP announces their support we now have a system in place to communicate for the movement, in line with student directly with parents where we have their demands. details and that’s happened this week. So the The UP Senate has said they support the communication with parents has improved principle. That’s not taking a side. We also and I’m already seeing parents saying “Thank said in the Senate that we commit ourselves you for sorting this out. We now have a clearer to a process of structured engagement. That sense of what’s going to happen”. So, yes, it was disrupted. The design of it was to allow was an issue at the beginning and, of course, everyone, in a safe space, to express their view as any parent would be, they’re concerned in and have it debated. It’s very important that this situation, as should be every South African that’s a principle we hold on to. citizen. Because this is an issue that threatens the Protesters have released a memorandum that long-term sustainability of the entire university outlines their demands.One of these is the system and we have to think about the future. demilitarisation of campus. What are UP’s If universities implode, you can’t rebuild it views on this demand? overnight. It will take at least another generation Let me say this, firstly: we had an open campus to rebuild these institutions. It’s not a matter and that principle of an open campus is an of closing for six months and then picking up important one because universities should be where you left off. It’s a rebuilding process and open spaces. The additional security came after that will take another generation, at least, and the intimidation, harassment, and violence, we can look across the continent. Look at the and all of us as a university community would history of university systems in the post-colonial like to go back to having an open campus. But period; they still haven’t recovered. we continue to have threats: threats against Has UP been threatened by any legal action? individuals through intimidation, through Yes, I have had letters from parents threatening harassment, and I’ve heard that journalists, legal action and firstly, let me say, that I including of Perdeby, have been intimidated and empathise with their anger and their concern harassed and that’s simply not acceptable. It’s over their children. As parents, they must be my job to take every step to ensure the safety concerned. We’ve tried to respond to every of the UP community and, in fact, that is one parent that has written to us. We might not get to of the main concerns of the parents: is my son, them as quickly as they might like but I have a daughter, niece, nephew safe on your campus? whole team of people assisting me, making sure Now, I cannot fail in that duty. Should anything we respond to each of the communications from go wrong, I must, with a clear conscience, be parents. We try to keep parents updated. Our able to say what measures I’ve put in place to commitment now to completing the academic ensure your safety, the people in your team and year is a very firm commitment. We are using the like, but those threats continue. Let me say alternative methods that we are working on but that the additional security came as a response that’s the commitment we make – that we will to a situation where people were threatened. complete this academic year.

And I’m not talking simply about verbal threats.

You hosted a meeting with staff last Monday.

I’m talking about physical threats. I saw people What is the sentiment from staff? carrying sticks and the like. That’s simply not There are different views. The vast majority the kind of behaviour I can tolerate of staff, in principle, just want to get back to They have also asked that the suspensions of stability and to see us do what we’re set up to students be lifted. What are UP’s views here? do, which is teaching and learning. There are Let me just go back a little. When we resolved staff who participated in the protests, and I’m the protests about insourcing, one of the parts of making that conclusion because I saw them in the agreement was that there would be no action the group, and I’m meeting with some of those taken against students who participated in the staff members. I’ve had initial discussions and I protest. Following the protests on language, we will, later today, have further discussions. had a lekgotla. In the process of that lekgotla, I have made it clear that I’m committed to we agreed that the suspended students would engagement on the issues but there’s some not be prevented from coming to class to non-negotiables in the process and I cannot continue with their lectures. We didn’t drop have people who are protesting set these suspensions but we agreed that they could come to class. So in the context of the protests of the non-negotiables because my job is to take into

entire year, I heard that call on two previous occasions.

In this round, many of the individual students that have been suspended are exactly the same individuals and its clear to me that for those individuals, what they commit to, simply doesn’t materialise.

If I sign a document, I try to honour that agreement. Well, the agreement [from their side] has not been honoured and my job is to, as I said, think about the safety of all students so that’s the first thing I want to say. The second thing is that we [are] no longer talking about peaceful protest. We’re created a designated area on campus for protest.

Well, that has not been honoured. Instead, what we had was, people intimidating other students, threatening that they have to get out of class otherwise x,y, and x would prevail. You yourself might have been subjected to that and that’s simply not acceptable. We have a democracy.

If you have issues, we create platforms for discussion and engagement. If you want to protest peacefully, we will respect that right, but this has crossed the line.

In line with that need for engagement, the other demand is that we have a mass meeting, not faculty or department specific meetings.

Is UP considering a mass meeting or have you considered one?

Let me put it this way: firstly, we must hear everybody’s perspective. The question I ask: if we have a mass meeting, we would have to hire Loftus [and] how do we hear perspective in a venue like that? So what do some people mean by “mass meeting”? We have, in fact, had one in the past. It turned into a shouting match in the Amphitheatre where others were silenced – they were called names, they were booed. So then I looked nationally. Every group on every campus has had similarities and the mass meeting at every university has gone through that. It hasn’t worked at one institution. So, you cannot have a conversation of different perspectives. And we at the university have diverse political perspectives. How do we ensure a space where every perspective can be heard without it turning into a silencing of some voices? I don’t think the format of that will work.

So what we had designed was a process, bottom-up. Everyone would have a chance.

The faculties would then develop a consensus view and that might have lead into a consensus university position which might have said “We agree as the University of Pretoria… On these particular issues we have different views…,” that kind of a statement. That’s what we were working toward.

Is UP still going to persevere with engagements?

As I’ve indicated to you, we’ve had ongoing engagements with the interim chair of the SRC [Thabo Shingange] several times, Prof.

[Carolina] Koornhof [Vice-Principal: Student Affairs] met with the entire SRC this morning, they will meet again tomorrow. Even the group calling themselves Fees Must Fall, I indicated to meet with a number of them in a structured format. First they agreed that we would meet in fairly large group but not a mass meeting but then I got a message saying, “Please will you respond via email?” But I remain open to engagement in a structured format where people can be heard.

Do you still hope to release a comprehensive statement from the university compiling the different views?

Absolutely.

Does UP plan to release a statement about the Fees Must Fall group’s memorandum specifically?

Well, I’ve looked at that and that might be the conclusion I reach tomorrow but I had hoped that we would have an opportunity to meet differently, in a face-to-face manner as opposed to digital statements. These are not issues that are simple, they’re quite complex. As I said, “Are we saying free for all students? Are we saying free for the poor or this category?” and unfortunately we haven’t had an environment conducive for making that decision.

4 Continued from front page.

Let’s tell our own stories as Africans in Africa.

Let us be a university that focuses and speaks to the needs, wants and identities of Africans as African people.

UP Fees Must Fall, and Fees Must Fall movements across the country have had a significant impact on university campuses across the country. What do you think your impact has been on UP’s campuses?

One, I think what the Fees Must Fall movement, both at UP and nationally has done, is given an opportunity to the silent voices to be able to speak. For far too long university management and particular voices, academics, have had a hegemony over those voices that are seen to be legitimate. What UP Fees Must Fall has done is said that those voices that have been marginalised, those voices that have been silenced, are now able to speak truth to power.

Number two, we have forced discourse around societal issues that previously were swept under the carpet. People are now talking about what is the role of university, and how the university plays into inequality in our country. So that’s what UP Fees Must Fall has done in terms of our campuses; [they] are not operating and functioning as usual and of course that is the UP Fees Must Fall and Fees Must Fall movement’s goal - that business should not continue as usual because if business were to continue as usual that means the issues that are being put on the table would’ve been swept under the carpet. So the UP Fees Must Fall’s influence on campus, it has disrupted normal function as usual so that we can now start talking and start moving toward a more human society, a more equal society, a decolonised society.

In terms of the academic year, how does UP Fees Must Fall look at completing the academic year?

This question comes up many a times, and I think I should put it on record that the students involved in these fee protests want to complete the year. They are not students who are failing, as others have put it out. In fact most of these students are most of your top achievers within their courses. So one, yes we do want to complete our year, but the question comes, if we are going to complete our year now, what happens to our struggle and our fight for free decolonised education? And if the answer means that the fight for free decolonised education is going to be put on hold I believe that when we weigh it up it means that we need to continue our struggle for free decolonised education, even if it means we sacrifice part of our academic year. So that this will allow for a certain restructuring of our [academic] calendar, come next year. If it means writing in January I think most of the UP Fees Must Fall, and Fees Must Fall nationally, are willing to do that. I think we are willing to fight until we have free decolonised education. Academics is important, but at the moment free decolonised education is [more] important so that when we return to class we have free decolonised education.

There are other student groups who have said things such as “We want to study”, “You are infringing on our right to education”. In terms of that, how does UP Fees Must Fall look at these claims?

Again, this is an interesting question that comes up many a time, and it shows that the contradictions within those voices themselves.

Because when we call for free education you write articles about it, we cry about it, and most of these students [that] are saying they want to go to class are the ones that come back to us and say that education is a privilege. But then the moment we disrupt that privilege they come back to us and say it’s a right, so I think they need to get their story right first. I’m not attacking them but they need to find themselves and position themselves in what it is that they really believe.

Now as UP Fees Must Fall we believe that education is a social good, and should be a right, and for that very reason we’re disrupting the current status quo which puts education as a privilege, and we are saying to those students, in fact we’re fighting for you as well. Yes, it might be an inconvenience, but I don’t think there has been any social change or any social good that has come from people being [angry]. There is

News | 17 October 2016 always going to be some form of discomfort and unfortunately to those students there is going to be a discomfort but at the end of the day it’s going to be something that benefits all.

I need to remind them that in as much as we are privileged to be in institutions of higher learning there are thousands and thousands, I mean 200 000 matriculants who qualify for university but are unable to come to university, hundreds of thousands of students that do make it into university and end up dropping out of university because they don’t have the funding, they don’t have the money, and are excluded academically or financially. In fact, I think that’s a minority that are saying lets go back to class and there’s a majority that can’t even get into class.

What about groups that support the call for free quality decolonised education, but also want to return to class? How does UP Fees Must Fall react to these groups?

We’ve had conversations with Open UP and their stance is almost, or at least their initial stance has been that there should be parallel engagements: lets open up universities, let’s go to class, whilst at the same time negotiating. But the problem with such a notion is that the very poor bodies, the very bodies that are calling for free education, and are most affected are going to be even more affected because they’re the ones that are going to be marching, they’re the ones that are going to be going to negotiation rooms, they’re the ones that are going to be doing all the ground work while the majority of those that are privileged enough will be in class. So in as much as they are calling for this, we believe that they need to support this whole heartedly, and if people are going to say they really support the call we need to see some of the work that they’re doing. Let them write about it, let them come into the streets with us.

It cannot be that you support the cause but you have not been seen in any way supporting the cause. So really our call is to say yes, going to class is something that we all want, but cannot be right that we are going to class while many are still outside class and we have not received what we are fighting for.

In terms of engagement with UP, how does UP Fees Must Fall look at the attempted processes of engagement?

Well, we believe that we are not going to, as this is a broad social movement. We do not believe in closed door meetings as many a times when we have closed door meetings student leaders are co-opted, they are convinced otherwise by university management. So we are saying let us have an open discussion, an open broad discussion. This has been placed at the universities table for a while. [At] our first protest we called the Vice-Chancellor to ask her a few questions while we were handing in the memorandum. In that moment she refused really to answer student questions but we expected her to answer to our memorandum. She didn’t respond to our memorandum, and the answers we are getting is [that] she does not see us, she does not know who to speak to, but we are saying as a movement we are very visible, here we are we are making a noise, there are many platforms where she could have replied to our memorandum.

Following that we sent a letter to give her the terms of engagement of how we’d be willing to come and sit down with her and have a conversation around that, and she refuses to respond to us directly. She continues to respond through social media. She responds to the media, but she does not speak to the material stakeholders who are the students who are calling for this decolonised education. So at this moment it’s very evident that the university, although they are pushing that they want to engage and that they are engaging, is that they do not want to engage, there has not been one time when they have spoken to students [...] and continues to engage with us in what I’d call mafia tactics where she wants to control the narrative to the public and is telling the world that students don’t want to engage, but students are in fact calling for engagement.

What would the ideal form of engagement be between students and the Vice-Chancellor?

The ideal form would be certain conditions need to be met. If the university considers itself to be an intellectual space, to be a space of

exchanging ideas, that needs to happen at an equal level. It cannot be that there’s a hierarchy where are some are more subordinate, and others are superior. So we need to level down the grounds and say we will be speaking as equals. That’s the first condition that we are calling for, and we are calling for suspensions to be lifted, this is because these students leaders that have been suspended are material stakeholders themselves and it cannot be that we have a conversation around Fees Must Fall where people that have been at the forefront are excluded from this conversation. We are saying if you are going to have the conversation on university campus, the university campus has to be demilitarised. Until it is demilitarised we can only have a conversation on neutral ground.

The conversation must not be about “is free education feasible”, but it should be rather about how we are going to obtain it.

These are some the conditions we put on the table to say should we want to engage, that how we’re going to engage, but we also call for a multi-stakeholder meeting where those that are involved, those that are concerned, are able to have these conversations so that the voices are not limited. So we need workers to be there, cleaners, security guards as employees of the university, academics should be there together with students, Senate, Council, […] for these different voices to be heard so that we can move together as a university.

What is the next step for UP Fees Must Fall in the process of achieving the demands?

I think it’s been very clear that the ViceChancellor is really refusing to engage with students and has not taken us seriously.

She’s responded with violence, in terms of the militarisation of campus. She insists of continuing with classes while she knows that those who will be marginalised, the most will be poor and black students. So what we are saying is business will not continue as usual as much as they’ve decided to have online classes and some classes on campus, those classes cannot continue as they continue our inequality. So as Fees Must Fall we reject the notion of continuing these classes under these conditions and we’ll do anything within our power to challenge that, that’s the first part.

The second part is that we are going to start with our programmes in regional solidarity and national solidarity in moving in attacking centres of power in our country. Today in Tshwane there is a planned march to the Treasury. These are some of the steps we are taking. The way forward really is to continue on both fronts, putting pressure on the university to say if you are going to continue with classes, it must be under certain conditions, you must support the call for free education. Failure to do so, classes and academic activities will be disrupted. On the other hand it’s to continue our fight against government and capital.

UP itself cannot provide free education, and Fees Must Fall is taking demands to the government. Where does the university and government interact in terms of providing free education?

UP Fees Must Fall is saying, the university is the one which provides education, and continuously talks of institutional autonomy. We are saying if that is the case, the university needs to support us. We know the university is not going to give us free education, they do not have the money, but they’re the ones who can facilitate the idea of a decolonised education, the spaces that we find ourselves in. They need to commit to changing the spaces, to changing the curriculum.

In fact they should be setting up an institution that will think around free education. They’re saying that they support the causes without showing us; acting is disingenuous from their side because they are really showing us that they don’t support it. So if they support it, the Vice-Chancellor would’ve closed the university for three days, [...] and joined us as we go to government. So part of our shutting down on campus is because there are things internally that the university can change, but also putting pressure on the university to give us support, to back us in our struggle against government.

How many students who are part of Fees Must Fall have been arrested or suspended?

At the current moment at UP, there are seven students that we are aware of. There might be more that have not come out with their suspensions, but there are seven leaders, with the most recent one coming at the end of last week, whereas the others came in September.

In terms of arrests, there have been about five arrests of students at UP, most of which are out now, with one of the leaders languishing at Kgosi Mampuru [Prison] awaiting his bail hearing. The suspensions have shown us that the university will do anything in its capacity to press students. It’s only particular students have been targeted with suspensions. We reject the suspensions; it shows very draconian measures taken by the university and we believe that in order for us to have a conducive learning system we call for the lifting of all suspensions of these student leaders as their only crime is fighting for free decolonised education.

It’s very worrying that all seven suspended students come from the EFF Student Command.

This shows clear victimisation on one particular political party. Even though UP Fees Must Fall sees itself as a non-partisan student body made up of various student organisations and individuals, workers, and academics, this victimisation of EFF Student Command is very problematic, especially in relation to other parties that have ben opposed to this protest that have also been very violent, have been involved in other protests and violating, and being brutal to students. Case in example is Afriforum that brings to campus the national leadership which are not students but rather adults in the working world. How is it that we are allowing these students on to campus to fight, to brutalise our protesting students? It cannot be right that they are not getting dealt with. This shows clear selectivity from the university. It’s a confirmation of what many people have been saying, that in fact this university is anti-poor, anti-black, and very racist.

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Students suspended following protests POOJA PUNDIT On 20 September a notification was published on the UP website stating that a High Court order against unlawful protest action had been extended until 2 November.

Unlawful protest action is defined as intimidating and violent behaviour of students, disruption of tests and classes and obstructing exits and entrances at UP. UP sent suspension letters to several students following unlawful protest action following Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande’s announcement that universities could determine their own fee increases with a cap of 8% for 2017.

On 23 September the EFFSC-UP released a statement on their Facebook and Twitter pages claiming that UP had “illegally” suspended four of its leaders, chairperson Amla Monageng, spokesperson Lungile Sonwabo, EFFSC national spokesperson Naledi Chirwa and former chairperson Kabelo Mahlobogwane.

According to UP spokesperson Anna-Retha Bouwer, all actions that have been taken by the university have been taken in accordance with the provisions of UP’s Disciplinary Code. Bouwer further said all suspensions are subject to the finalisation of the disciplinary process, adding that UP could not disclose the names of students who are subject to disciplinary actions. Six students have been suspended, pending the finalisation of the disciplinary process. Students are temporarily suspended for specific transgressions. The transgressions vary from the contravention of a court order, disruption of academic activities, violent behaviour and damage to property.

The University said that letters were sent

to the relevant students notifying them of their suspensions. Law societies on campus such as the Legal Shebeen have said they are available to students for legal support.

Daso UP chairperson Kwena Moloto and Afriforum Youth UP spokesperson, Henrico Barnard confirmed that none of their members had been suspended. According to Moloto, “If a student is found guilty of any illegal actions we [Daso UP] support the university’s right to suspend [the student].

If, however, the university has suspended students with no evidence of illegal actions and/or transgressions of the code of conduct, then the suspensions must be lifted.”

Barnard said, “We [Afriforum Youth] agree that all deserving students should have the opportunity to receive tertiary education, with admission based strongly on merit.” Barnard added that students must accurately define the term “decolonised tertiary education” before using the term.

On 4 October the UP Fees Must Fall Facebook page voiced its demands that the suspensions of students Sonwabo, Andile Gravey Nkonyane, Chirwa, Monageng, Mohlobogwane and former SRC president Mosibudi “Rassie” Rasethaba be lifted.

According to the post, “Management suspended these students in an attempt to destabilise the movement of Free Decolonised Education.” According to one of the suspended students who wished to remain anonymous, the reason the majority of students had been suspended is because the university had deemed mass meetings and gatherings of people of colour as the “enemy to the law”, therefore members of the movement who were chairing and were vocal during these meetings were suspended.

Student leaders addresing students in the Amphitheatre. Photo: Ciske van den Heever

The student further added that protocols of suspensions were not faithfully followed, no measures were put in place to justify the suspensions, and a handful of students were informally briefed on their suspensions by

Tuks24 charges dropped

Students dancing in front of the Pretoria Magistrate’s court in February 2016. Photo: Fezekile Msimang

CHAD JOHNSTON On 7 October the charges against the Tuks24 were dropped. This comes after the case was postponed for the seventh time. Students were arrested in February this year after protests broke out on UP’s Hatfield campus and in the

surrounding areas.

On 18 February protests against UP’s language policy flared up. Protesters demanded that Afrikaans be removed as a medium of instruction at the university.

Students for the removal of Afrikaans were confronted by students against it. Several

violent altercations took place between the two groups. Both groups eventually dispersed.

On 19 February UP obtained an urgent interdict against AfriForum, AfriForum Youth and EFFSC-UP in an attempt to prevent the parties from disrupting campus operations.

members with access to inside information Suspended students are barred from all university-controlled systems, residences, all campuses and the UP portal. The EFFSC-UP did not wish to comment on the matter.

Despite this UP closed its gates for the day.

Protests began at Prospect gate and moved to Lynnwood road where students attempted to set a tyre on fire. Police thwarted the attempt and in response protesters began throwing rocks at police. The police then resorted to deploying tear gas and shooting at students with rubber bullets. Students scattered and 27 individuals were arrested, one of whom was a Perdeby photographer.

The university reopened on Monday 22 February but was soon shut down again due to protests. Students wore black as part of the #UPBlackMonday and #Tuks27 social media campaigns in solidarity with the 27 students who were arrested. The students were charged with public violence and malicious damage to property. Students disrupted classes and then proceeded via busses to the court hearings of the 27 arrested students. The case was postponed to 7 April.

Students returned to campus but were met by an opposition group. A standoff ensued and police were called in to monitor the situation, which grew more violent when groups began throwing rocks at each other due to racial slurs being hurled at Afrikaans Must Fall protesters. The two groups eventually dispersed. A security guard and several student were injured in the clash.

Charges against three of the accused were dropped and the remaining students appeared in court on 7 April, 26 April, 19 July, and 2 August and on all occasions the case was postponed. On 12 September the students appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court where their defence requested for the case to be withdrawn. With regard to the constant postponements, Adv. Timothy Ramabulana said, “The postponement[s] [are] not in line with dispensing justice. There is always something wrong. At this stage, our submission and application is that the matter be struck because the state-house is a bit in disarray”.

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News | 17 October 2016

Left to right: Members of the Fees Must Fall and Open UP movements engaging with UP academics, Luvuyo Menziwa, Prof. Danie Brandt, Dr Matete Madiba, and Michael Bongani Reinders. Photos: Documenting the Movemen’ts Facebook page

UP academics and student movements engage over Fees Must Fall MOTLATSI KGAPHOLA AND CHAD JOHNSTON On 13 October, members of the UP Fees Must Fall movement, the Open UP movement and UP academics held a meeting at Elim Church on Duxbury road about the recent developments in the fight for free education at UP. The meeting was aimed at engaging with academics on issues of the protests and the online academic programme. The meeting also addressed the lack of engagement shown by Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof. Cheryl de la Rey with the Fees Must Fall movement.

Pastor Emmanuel Landman said that he opened up his church because of his involvement with the university from the beginning of the year with regard to how to facilitate transformation policies and also because his church congregation consists of a diverse group of students studying at UP. He says he he felt the need to allow a space for students to engage with academics without having to face any police officials.

Before the students presented their questions UP academics expressed their full support for the Fees Must Fall movement. It was highlighted that they were attending the meeting in their own capacity and not as representatives of the

UP vice-chancellor. However, they disclosed some points that were mentioned at the staff meeting held on Monday 10 October, saying that management has never been closed for engagement but just not at a large capacity.

The academics present further added that Prof.

De la Rey would agree to a meeting where all movements were to send in delegates to represent the student bodies and to be formally notified beforehand before such an engagement.

Students expressed their disagreement with this suggestion, as they are against the idea that they would have to send in a small group of people as it would not be a full representation of voice of the students in support of the Fees Must Fall movement.

A student supporter of the Fees Must Fall movement studying engineering, who preferred to remain anonymous said that the meeting held on Monday at the engineering faculty consisted only of class representatives and faculty lecturers. He says that it was not a clear representation of the students involved in the Fees Must Fall movement. Students pleaded with the academics to tell Prof. De la Rey to engage with the students in order for there to be a conclusion to the Fees Must Fall movement.

Students also mentioned that the resumption of academic activities online put in place by UP

is difficult to participate in because of the lack of resources and internet access. The meeting was concluded with the academics wishing students the best of luck. They stressed that they would like to get back to lecturing students again and that they were also not in support of the online resumption of academic activities.

On 14 October a further engagement session was held at Elim church. The meeting was attended by roughly 60 people.

Various members from the UP Fees Must Fall movement spoke first saying that they are calling for all students to support the movement.

They made it clear that they are not only looking for ground forces. They clarified that their goal is free education for all students and for the de-commodification of education. Former SRC member Luvuyo Menziwa told those in attendance, “We are ready to put our degrees and our lives on the line”.

Members from Open UP said that they are in support of the call for free education, however, they want campuses to be opened as soon as possible.

There was a shared call for the Prof. De la Rey to respond to the memorandum which was submitted to her and for the university to take a stance on free education. One student added that they are willing and open to engagement

with Prof. de la Rey as long as she meets the prerequisites highlighted in their memorandum.

Prof. Danie Brandt , a lectuere in UP’s Faculty of Law, commended students on the maturity in which they have handled themselves during the movement. He added that the online lecturing system is unfair, however, that students should not just reject it outright. Prof. Brandt also urged students to act like adults and stressed the importance of the continuation of academic activities.

He was met by opposition from various students from the floor. Lizo Masters said that “suspending activities is the only power students have”, to which Brandt replied by urging students to think creatively and to not think that stopping the academic year is the only option available.

As students debated more issues Director of the Department of Student Affairs Dr Matete Madiba reminded students that they should “refine their end goal.” Some solutions were put forward such as scheduling a meeting with Prof.

De la Rey to discuss the demands put forward in the memorandum and negotiating around them.

Another student added that they cannot allow activities to continue until they receive free education.

Tuks Camerata takes home bronze at Varsity Sing finale XANDER JANSE VAN RENSBURG On Thursday 13 October UP’s Tuks Camerata was awarded third place in the Varsity Sing reality TV show that was broadcasted live on KykNet. Stellenbosch University (SU) choir took first place followed by University of Johannesburg (UJ) choir in second place.

Tuks Camerata was one of 12 university choirs from across the country that participated in the Varsity Sing series. The panel of judges consisted of Loyiso Bala, Christo Burger, Marvin Kernelle and this week’s guest judge, Coenie de Villiers.

All points gathered over the knockout rounds of the series no longer came into play and the choirs were judged based on their performance on the night of the finale. The judges paid special attention to musicality, technical proficiency, sound and tone quality, and overall impression. SU was also awarded the FNB fan favourite award, in which members of the public voted for their favourite choir using the Varsity Sports app, adding an additional R50 000 to their winnings.

The night started off with the UJ choir and their conductor Renette Bouwer setting a high standard for all other performances to follow. This was followed by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University choir and their conductor Junita van Dijk and SU with their conductor, André van der Merwe. Tuks Camerata, with their conductor Michael Barrett, finished the night off on a high note, being the only choir to receive a standing

TuksCamerata at Varsity Sing. Photo: Stefan Stander.

ovation.

Speaking to Perdeby, Barrett said, “At the end of the day choral music is the winner,” adding that the prize money from the Varsity Sing series will be used to assist the less fortunate in funding their tour to Europe next

year for their participation in the Choir Grand Prix and the World Choral Symposium taking place in July 2017 in Barcelona, Spain.

Barrett added that he thinks the Varsity Sing series was a great success and giving participating choirs additional publicity is also

very beneficial.

Tuks Camerata is one of only 24 choirs and also the only choir from Africa and the southern hemisphere taking part in the World Choral Symposium.

17 October 2016 2016 | News

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Tuks Camerata at the 2016 Varsity Sing competition

Photo: Michael Ridge

Implications of university shut downs MOTLATSI KGAPHOLA

Tuks Camerata performing at the 2016 Varsity Sing compeition with their conductor Michael Barrett.

Photos: Stefan Stander

Following the recent protests taking place at universities nationwide, academic programmes have come to a halt as students take part in the Fees Must Fall movement. The protests began when the Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande announced universities may implement a fee increment up to 8%. Students with a family income of R600 000 or more are exempt from this increase Since then protesting students began engaging in protest action on UP’s Hatfield campus on 19 September, leading to the university being shut down from 21 September to 26 September. This was then followed by an extended recess from 26 September to 10 October.

Universities have come to a deadlock with students as they insist on an indefinite shut down until government makes an unconditional commitment to free tertiary education.

According to Statistics South Africa, people below the age of 35 constitute approximately 66% of the population. Associate Prof. Roula

Inglesi-Lotz and senior lecturer Dr Heinrich Bohlmann at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Economics conducted an analysis in collaboration with the Global Centre of Policy Studies. The research was centred on the impact of the large reduction in graduates entering the labour market in 2017 and the impact the university shut down would have on the economy. The results were that South Africa’s GDP would fall with the economy shedding around R5.6 billion, inequality would deepen, unemployment would rise and real wages for less skilled workers would fall. If universities had to shut down their academic programmes for 2016, universities would be faced with a backlog of students who would not be able to graduate, therefore being unable to have new intake of 2016 matriculants.

UP has stressed its goal for finishing the academic programme and informed students to continue to study and prepare for upcoming examinations. UP management have urged students to continue with their studies offcampus while they are dealing with the changes.

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News | 17 October 2016

Fees Must Fall crisis sweeps across SA universities MAMMETJA MOGOTLANE

Since the announcement made by Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, about fee increases for 2017, institutions of higher learning have been engulfed by student protests against possible fee hikes and the overall demand for “free decolonised education”. A declaration of Higher Education and Training summit took place on 3 October which was held to tackle the crisis.

Stakeholders of the summit included the South African Union of Students (SAUS), faith-based organisations, workers’ unions, vice-chancellors and parents. The summit noted the need for long-term solutions to student funding but most importantly the need for an immediate resumption of academic programmes at all universities.

On 19 September Dr Nzimande made the announcement that higher institutions of learning would be able to increase fees up to 8% for the 2017 academic year. Students with a family income below R600 000 per annum would then be exempt from any increments.

Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Classes remain suspended at CPUT following unrelenting protest action at the Bellville campus. On 11 October, a building on the campus entrance was set alight together with the admin building, resulting in the indefinite suspension of classes. Academic activities will continue in the form of online tuition and alternative forms of assessment. Staff will be on duty but will work off campus.

One student has been arrested in connection with the burning of property. Charges of attempted murder have been brought against two students after two security guards were locked inside the burning building. The guards sustained minor injuries and were released from hospital on 12 October. Management have condemned the arson, calling it “thuggish

behaviour”. Fees Must Fall leaders have since distanced themselves from the incident.

Rhodes University (RU) According to Activate Online’s Twitter page, Fees Must Fall leaders said at a press conference that the protests are intended to be disruptive but not violent. The Fees Must Fall group cited several internal demands which included: a release of the sliding scale of the 2017 academic year where students do not pay anything, that poor students should not pay anything, that the university introduce budget reforms to cut down on monetary wastage, that student funding be prioritised, that a cap on the salaries for those in top management be put in place, and a cap on rent charges on buildings owned by the staff at the university. be introduced The university’s SRC confirmed that 12 students had been arrested and four were hospitalised. Several fires and destruction to property have been reported with the most recent being the Humanities building on the lower campus resulting in disruption to academic activities on 5 October. The university continues to condemn violent behaviour and has undertaken that perpetrators will be brought to justice. The academic programme resumed on 11 October despite various disruptions.

University of Limpopo (UL) On 28 September the university released an official notice that academic activities would be suspended indefinitely after students were requested to vacate residences. Vice-Chancellor and Principal Mahlo Mokgalong said the reason for the eviction and the temporary closure of the university was to protect and prevent any destruction to property. Isaac Hlungwana, one of the student leaders at the university, confirmed that all students that had been arrested have since been released, citing the national prosecuting authority’s decision to drop charges against the students.

University of Witwatersrand (Wits) Academic activities continued at Wits despite continuous protests and minimal turnout in lectures. Following the decision by the university to cancel the general assembly on 7 October, students at Wits held their own general assembly at Solomon Mahlangu House, where the demands of the movement were read.

The movement called for the support of the university in their demand for free decolonised education. In attendance were Adv. Dali Mpofu and the president of the South African Council of Churches.

The senior executive of the university has vowed to withdraw police and private security on campus but keep them around campus perimeters. A research team as mandated by students has come up with a model that would make free education a reality. Management has since said that the academic timetable will be revisited.

Durban University of Technology (DUT) Management and the SRC at DUT have reached consensus to resume academic activities at the institution. Classes subsequently resumed on 5 October. Disruptions of classes by about 50 students resulted in six arrests. Those arrested are currently in police custody. Following the official end of protests at DUT, the vicechancellors’ office and car were set alight, but the fire was contained timeously. The events that led up to the destruction of property are still under investigation.

University of Cape Town (UCT) Classes at UCT remained suspended until 14 October, but other services relating to residence continued. Academic activities at the university have been continuously interrupted by protesting students over the past three weeks. UCT management have been reluctant in shutting down operations at the university citing that further academic disruptions would result in the rest of the academic year being lost. However,

university management was forced to shut down campuses from 5-7 October due to unrelenting protests calling for free education. The case against three student leaders, Masixole Mlandu, Sibusiso Mpendulo and Zukisa Sokhaya continues. The students have since been released on bail and the case has been postponed to 23 November. Protests continue as the student body demands management to engage with them.

University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Students marched to Durban City Hall on 10 October to present their memorandum of demands. The memorandum outlined the national call for free decolonised education, the end of police brutality and the end of militarised institutions. The memorandum was received by representatives from the mayor’s office and the Durban Chamber of Commerce.

Eleven students who were arrested at UKZN have been in police custody for over 19 days.

They are facing charges of public violence, failing to obey police orders and interfering with police in the course of duty. A further two students have been arrested in connection with an incident of arson at the Malherbe residence at the Pietermaritzburg campus. Students had to evacuate the residences after the fire broke out. The university is adamant on continuing with academic activities, maintaining a strong security presence on all of its campuses.

Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) On 12 October, students from TUT barricaded entrances to the university’s Pretoria West and GaRankuwa campuses. Protesting students prevented staff and students from entering the campuses, calling on the university to shut its doors until government addressed the call for free education. The students then proceeded to shut down the Arcadia and Arts campus before taking to the streets of Pretoria CBD. Police were called to the scene and used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. According to EWN, at least ten students were arrested on charges of public violence.

17 October 2016 2016 | News

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Campus news bites

One of the burned cars at UP. Photo: Twitter.

Arson attack at UP leaves two cars burned On 26 September, two cars on UP’s Hatfield Campus were set on fire in an alleged arson attack.

The fires came after students began protesting at the university for free education following Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande’s fee increase announcement.

Speaking to Rekord East, police spokesperson Cpt. Anton Breedt said two cars were set alight in the area but could not give further details.

Due to the volatile situation faced on campus, the October recess was moved forward.

According to a statement released by ViceChancellor and Principal Prof. De la Rey, “In the interest of the safety of students, staff and property, university management has decided to move the October recess period forward.” The recess therefore started on 26 September and the university was meant to reopen on 10 October for the start of the fourth quarter.

Several rumours on social media added that an IT lab had also been burned. According to UP spokesperson Anna-Retha Bouwer, this was a false rumour and there were no fires at any of the university’s computer labs.

UP resumes academic programme On 11 October, an SMS was sent out to students

to refer to the UP website and ClickUP for updates on the academic programme.

Academic activities commenced on Wednesday 12 October with contact sessions replaced with online teaching material. Where contact sessions with lecturers are required arrangements will be made per module and communicated to students through ClickUP. Strict access control will apply and only students whose faculties have made specific arrangements will be permitted onto campus.

There will be no general access to campus and residences will remain open. Examinations will commence on 14 November and will continue until 3 December, excluding special cases.

According to the statement, campus security will be supported by the SAPS in the interest of the safety of students and staff members. Students are advised to check ClickUP and the UP portal for regular updates.

Amla Monageng. Photo: Amla Monagneg’s Facebook page

Fees Must Fall leader arrested On 11 October, Amla Monageng, EFFSC-UP chairperson and one of the Fees Must Fall leaders at UP was arrested near the Prinshof campus. According to the EFFSC-UP Facebook page, Monageng was detained by SAPS and taken to the Gezina police station. Monageng appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, 12 October for his bail hearing. The bail hearing was postponed until 19 October and Monageng will remain in police custody until he appears in court again.

Tulip members at Gatang High School in Mamelodi. Photo: Tulip’s Facebook page

Student organisation assists high schoolers with getting to and through varsity DITEBOGO TSHAKA The Tuks Leadership and Individual Programme (Tulip) is a student-founded organisation that aims to develop school children from rural areas with the aim of getting them into and through university. Founded in 2016, the programme recognised several problems that the South African economic and educational systems are currently facing such as the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s shortages in loans granted to tertiary education students.

As a result, Tulip established an initiative to address these issues and achieve widespread access to education. The sponsorship programme developed allows for individuals and organisations to sponsor a child by donating R700, which enables high school learners to join the Tulip programme from Grade 9 onward and participate in the programme for five years.

Their goal this year was to assist 100 students from Gatang Secondary School and Solomon Mahlangu High School. The programme aims to prepare learners for university by assisting them with leadership skills, academic preparation, finances, planning and human development.

Tulip uses the R700 to provide learners of specific schools with enough information about university courses, application process and entrance requirements. “I saw a lot of students with immense potential, but with no prior access to information and resources that get you to university,” says Tulip chairperson Clarindi Greeff. They have assisted seven

matric learners in applying for different programmes this year and one of these learners has been accepted into the University of Johannesburg.

Tulip also aims to connect learners to financial opportunities by trying to find them suitable and sustainable bursaries and equipping them with skills of handling financial challenges that they may face in university by educating them about entrepreneurship.

They have collaborated with the African Leadership Academy, which presented a social entrepreneurship course to Tulip learners. As a part of their human development portfolio, Tulip provides learners with emotional support, sexual education, and access to social workers.

University students are also able to help in other ways by becoming Tulip tutors. Through this they are able to see the learners every two weeks to help them with the academic work that they are struggling with.

Tulip’s goal for 2017 is to develop each of their learners holistically and individually to become change-makers in their own right and uplift the communities they work in by creating an ever-increasing number of functional and successful education participants. To begin with, for next year, they have expanded their programme to include two Pretoria Central schools, Laudium High School and Himalaya Secondary School. They have a total of 200 learners in their programme for 2017. “We are changing South Africa #1educationatatime,” says Greeff.

Final-year and postgraduate students under pressure CELLIERS MARAIS

Students queuing to make their mark in the 2016 SRC elections. Photo: Fezekile Msimang

SRC elections outcome unclear HENRI UYS UP’s SRC elections were scheduled for 20 September. They were disrupted by protesting students in reaction to Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande’s announcement on fee increases for 2017.

Questions about the way forward with SRC elections have been raised.

Michael Bongani Reinders, an independent candidate running for the portfolio of SRC president and the 2016 SRC ex-officio member for residences says that the disruptions impacted the elections negatively. According to Reinders, “Many people were prevented from voting or didn’t get the chance to even go and vote and as a result, I don’t think that the elections can be viewed as free and fair; they were disrupted and thus incomplete,”.

Reinders added, however, that the SRC elections should not be a top priority at the moment. “As a way forward, it is important that we address the critical issue of free education and the protests on campus before we look at the elections again. The call for free education has to take priority.”

AfriForum’s candidate for the portfolio of SRC president, Henrico Barnard, echoed Reinders’s comments but condemned disruptions. “Students’ democratic right[s] were violated and all because of individuals who disregard authority and are selfish. True leadership is suppressed by societies who [do] not want to partake in elections.”

UP’s media spokesperson, Anna-Retha Bouwer, confirmed that the SRC elections were suspended due to the disruptions. Bouwer added that the “The preliminary report of the service provider responsible for the running of the election will be studied and an announcement regarding the way forward will follow in due course.”

Sasco condemned the disruption of the voting process and the disruption of classes on the 20th of September.

The IEFSA, who were the independent body overseeing and managing the election, could not be reached for comment. DASO and EFFSC-UP could also not be reached for comment.

No new date for the SRC elections has yet been announced.

Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande announced that universities may determine their own fee increases with a cap of 8% on 19 September, after which protests began at universities across the country with students calling for free quality decolonised education. Perdeby asked lecturers, final year, and postgraduate students at UP whether or not the protests have influenced them and if so, how.

Dr Natalie Haussmann from the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology said that most of the final-year students in her class are dedicated to completing their degrees this year: “They’re just not always sure how to do this”, she says. According to Dr Haussmann, the university is working on putting back-up plans in place, such as online assistance and reworking the study material so that it is more accessible from home or the local internet café.

The university has also negotiated free access to their web services from over 780 Wi-Fi hotspots in and around Pretoria. Dr Haussman said that students would be willing to follow reasonable back-up plans, should the disruptions continue.

She also said she’s confident that despite the disruptions, this year’s graduates would be on the same level as graduates from previous years and that they will be competent to be taken into the work force next year.

Most of the final-year students who were interviewed said that they are trying to keep up

to date with their work even though classes had been suspended. Final-year student, Mahlatse Sekatane, said that he is not sure if he’ll be able to complete his studies this year and that he is uncertain as to how it would affect his plans for the festive season and for next year.

He wasn’t planning on staying in Pretoria, but if he cannot finish his degree this year he will be forced to do so. Sibongile Tshabalala, a final-year Geology student, said that she tends to become lazy when there is no class, because it feels like there is a lot of time to finish the work, when in reality there is actually no time.

She feels that if consensus isn’t reached soon this semester will “go to the dogs”.

An anonymous postgraduate student completing his Computer Science honours degree part time while working full time said, “When working and studying at the same time it takes a lot of careful planning. My planning has been thrown out by the protests and neither my work nor the University will compensate for lost time”. Wihann Leipoldt, a master’s student at UP, said that the protests won’t affect the outcome of his studies. “It only influences me in that I am constantly on Twitter to see if anything new is happening on campus.”

According to Benjamin Ho, SRC member for postgraduate and international students, students can contact their deans for assistance where necessary or alternatively, students could contact him for any issues they may face.

10

News | 17 October 2016

UP hosts International Literature Conference

Joel Alves’s winning entry. Photo: K-State VetMed’s Twitter page.

UP veterinary science student wins international photo competition MARKO SVICEVIC AND POOJA PUNDIT Joel Alves, a student of UP’s Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, won the top prize in the Veterinarians Around the World photo competition. A cash prize of $1 000 was awarded to Alves for his black and white landscape photo entitled “Conservation in Motion”.

The image, captured at the Kruger National Park, depicts wildlife veterinarians fighting against time to save the endangered species of rhinos from poachers and the “imperative role wildlife veterinarians [play] in the protection and conservation of animals.” The photo competition, themed “Veterinarians

Around the World”, was facilitated by the College of Veterinary Medicine at the Kansas State University. Alves’s entry was among 240 other photos submitted by students from 35 different countries. Submissions to the competition portrayed animal conservation, animal health and food safety. Alves’s photo will be published in a calendar alongside 11 other top entries.

Alves’s passion for animals and philanthropic characteristics were evident earlier this August, when he was one of the four vets who resuscitated a baby rhino. The rhino had negatively reacted to a sedative, after being dehorned to degrade its value in order to prevent poaching, which led to an unexpected stop in heartbeat.

Breyten Breytenbach speaking at the international literature conference. Photo: Stefan Stander

KEMELO SEHLAPELO On 5-7 October, UP hosted the International African Literature Conference in association with Tydskrif vir Letterkunde and the Southern Modernities Conference. The conference was focused on the imaginings, modernities and visions within African and Diaspora African Literature.

The event was welcomed on behalf of the editor-in-chief of Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Prof. Hein Willemse from the Department of Afrikaans and Prof. Vasu Reddy, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. Prof.

Willemse called the event “a celebration of Tydskrif vir Letterkunde”. He acknowledged and thanked the sponsors and the event’s organising committee and assistants for persevering in keeping the event on amid current student protests and UP’s shutdown.

Prof. Reddy further stressed the importance of the event, saying, “The conference will be directed at getting to know people, issues and ideas directed at the critical reflection of African writers and their journeys, and how they imagine the African Diaspora.”

The conference included presentations from Prof. Mildred Mortimer, Breyten Breytenbach, Veronique Todjo, Refilwe Ramagoshi, Prof.

Willie Burger, Dr Onuora B. Nweke and Dr Lekan Oyegoke. Themes that were addressed included states of dystopia, creativity, shaping the imagination, renaissance, the refractive aesthetics of African literature, myth-making and nation building in Niger, and leadership.

The second day of the conference ended in a roundtable discussion on mentoring African literature.

The discussion included various well-known African literaries and writers including Yaw Sekyi-Baidoo, Eunice NongKum, Mobolanle Sotunsa, Adeola Faleye, Ezinwanyi Adam, Alex C Asigbo, Sola Owonibi, Ikuomola Adediran Daniel, Abayomi Awelewa, Kayode Atilade, Lateef Olanireti, and Oyèníyí Okùnoyè. The conference was formally concluded for the day with the launch of volume 53.2 of Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, named “Translating Mofolo”. The launch, along with Tydskrif vir Letterkunde’s 80th anniversary dinner was celebrated on UP’s Hatfield campus.

17 October 2016 | Features

11

The legal side of protesting: know your rights COURTNEY TINK Many students have been taking part in fees protests across South Africa. It is important for students to understand their rights and how to protest on the right side of the law, as well as which sections of the Constitution they can use to defend themselves. It is also important for students to know when they are breaking the law, and could possibly be arrested.

According to Section 17 of the Constitution everyone has the right to demonstrate, picket and present petitions peacefully and unarmed. Protests themselves fall under the Regulation of Gathering Act No. 205 of 1993, which states that every person has the right to assemble with other persons and to freely express their views on any matter in public and to enjoy the protection of the state while doing so.

Protests cannot be held on someone else’s land without special permission. They cannot take place 100 meters from a court unless it’s a Saturday, Sunday, public holiday or the convener (the person organising the protest) has written permission from a magistrate. A protest may not be held at or near the Union Buildings in Tshwane unless permission from the Director General is given.

There are many different kinds of protests and whereas assemblies, gatherings, demonstrations, marches and mass meetings are legal, road blockages are illegal, as are sit-ins unless the convener has permission.

If a protest is attended by 15 or less persons, then it is considered a demonstration and doesn’t warrant notification of the local council. However, if a protest is attended by 16 or more persons then it is considered a gathering and will require notification of local authorities. This notification must be presented seven days before the gathering, unless the protest is more spontaneous, then a minimum of 48 hours is given to notify local authorities. If there is no notice and no valid reasoning behind it then the protest can be prohibited or (if it has already taken place) the convener could face a possible year in jail or a R20l000 fine.

Giving notice means that the convener will go to the local police station and fill out a form with a responsibility officer. An official must answer this form within 24 hours or the convener can legally continue with their plans as outlined in the notice.

In order for a notice to be rejected it must meet three criteria: Firstly, an official meeting, also known as a section 4 meeting as it is discussed in section 4 of the Gatherings Act must take place between the convener, responsible officer and police. Secondly, the council has to have received information under oath that the gathering will disturb traffic badly, harm others, or cause damage to property. Finally, the police have to state that they won’t be able

Photo: Fezekile Msimang

to stop the above issues from happening.

Regarding the actual protest, protestors are not allowed to carry dangerous weapons, dress like officials, or conceal their identity with masks, nor are they allowed to block entry ways to hospitals, fire stations and other emergency buildings. A protestor cannot force others to be part of their cause and they may not sing, say or carry something that might incite hatred or violence due to race, language, religion, gender or culture.

According to the Regulation of Gatherings Act, if a protest is getting out of hand, only a Warrant officer or higher may disperse the gathering. In order to do this the officer must get the attention of the convener or their deputy and ask them to disperse. If this is ignored then the officer may order the crowd, in at least two official languages, to disperse within a reasonable amount of time.

If this is disregarded then the officer can command the crowd to disperse. Rubber bullets and water canons may only be used as a last resort and only to disperse the crowd.

It must be noted that if protestors are very violent, police officers may use whatever they need, including live ammunition, in order to ensure the safety of the nonviolent. A person can only be arrested if they are being charged with an official crime and are being taken to court, or if the police are investigating something and they believe the person being arrested knows something about it. A police officer must tell you why you are being arrested, and you don’t have to go with them if they don’t issue you a valid reason. If you are being arrested then it’s best to remain calm as the police can use force to detain you if you run. If you are arrested for no good reason or as a scare tactic, this is illegal and the arresting officers are breaking the law. When arrested you will most likely be allowed to pay bail and return home until your court case. A person’s court case must be brought to trial within 48 hours of their arrest. If it is a weekend or a public holiday then the court case must take place on the next available day by 16:00.

Alcohol amendment proposes raising the legal drinking age KATHERINE ATKINSON On 29 September, the National Liquor Amendment Bill was issued. The bill proposes that the legal drinking age should be raised from 18 to 21. The bill is open to public comment for 45 days from the date of issue. It proposes that distributors will be held legally liable should they serve alcohol to someone under the legal drinking age. Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies’s major reasoning behind the age raise is the damaging physiological effects alcohol has on the adolescent brain and the high number of alcohol-related car accidents South Africa experiences per year. Davies said during a media briefing that one “can see that [alcohol abuse] is a significant problem in South Africa”, with the average South African consuming between 3.8 to 6.2 litres more alcohol per year than the global norm. This extreme alcohol consumption is especially concerning for persons younger than 21, as the brain does not fully develop until the mid-twenties. Furthermore, Davies said that 46% of non-natural fatalities and more than 40% of injuries are associated with people who have a higher amount of alcohol in their body than the legal amount for driving.

Although the alcohol trade is one of the major contributors to South Africa’s GDP, Davies further said that alcoholrelated health concerns, such as foetal alcohol syndrome, outweigh the benefits of the alcohol trade. The amendment includes implementing stricter rules for advertising, stating that advertisements must show the risk associated with alcohol consumption, as is done for cigarettes.

However, a person must ask if raising the legal drinking age will really help tackle the alcohol-related issues that our nation faces. While an eNCA Twitter poll shows that 64% of the voters believe that the age limit should be raised, some argue against this. The latter argue that a raise in the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) will not only be more difficult and

costly to monitor, but will also increase incidences of illegal binge drinking. In South Africa, many teenagers who are below the age limit of 18 still consume alcohol. This raises questions as to whether the current age limit should be more stringently enforced rather than raised. Furthermore, some suggest that it is contradictory to believe that an 18-year-old is responsible enough to work, drive, marry and vote, but not to drink.

In an article published on The New York Times website on 10 February titled “Lower the Drinking Age to 19”, Laurence Steinberg, an American professor of psychology and researcher of the adolescent brain at Temple University says that he is in favour of lowering the drinking age in the US from 21 to 19. He says that although America has seen a reduction in drinkingrelated car accidents, this can also be attributed to the fact that stricter seat-belt regulations were implemented. While there may be truth in Steinberg’s statements, in 2013 the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), reported that the alcohol-impaired-driving fatality rate had declined by 23% since 2004, which is still a significant feat.

Steinberg further says that lowering the MLDA to 19 will “help solve the problem of illegal drinking on campus […] while still making it illegal for high school students to drink, thereby limiting the flow of legally (and easily) purchased alcohol into younger adolescents’ social networks.” Steinberg’s statements suggest that raising the drinking age to 21 may be futile.

Some students at UP were asked if they feel that the drinking age should be raised. Shayna Smit, a first-year actuarial science student, said, “I don’t think we have the police force to enforce the current age limit, let alone an increased one. It would simply increase the amount of underage and uncontrolled drinking that would happen. They should rather focus on enforcing the current age limit.” Victoria Bertram, a retired mother, said “…to raise the drinking age to 21 is a good idea in theory, however, with the lack of law enforcement in SA it will be futile.”

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Features | 17 October 2016

Free education around the world LORINDA MARRIAN Free quality tertiary education in South Africa is a top topic among students, politicians and the media. South Africa, like many other countries, offers subsidised tertiary education.

Countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are able to offer free tertiary education to their citizens.

The Brazilian government offers free tertiary education up to a post-graduate level through federal or state universities, where students are required to pay a registration fee. In Brazil, public universities are considered to offer the highest quality education, but are notoriously difficult to get into. According to QS Top Universities, “There are nearly ten candidates for every place in public universities, while in private universities the ratio is less than two-to-one.”

Deborah Pereira, a law student in a private university in Brazil says, “Public universities are much better than private ones, but they are really hard to get into, so there’s a bit of a controversy there because most public students have come from private schools.” This dilemma, according to an article titled “Brazil has tuition-free college – but it comes with a catch” published on Business Insider on 25 June 2015, is a real struggle for many students as the majority of students who are accepted into these institutions are from wealthy or middle-class families who were able to send their children to private schools, thereby leaving very few places for poorer students who went to public schools.

In order to address this issue the Brazilian government has implemented a type of quota system for its public universities where 50% of its new students need to come from public schools and the racial distribution of the incoming students must correspond to the racial distributionThe of Edge the area.

Main Logo: CMYK + RGB Pereira, however, says that she does not believe that only the wealthy benefit from the system as “…universities around here [Brazil] offer many scholarships”.

In Germany, undergraduate degrees are free in all public universities for both German and international students, but

Illustration: Lené Stroebel

universities do charge an administration fee. In Denmark and Sweden free education only applies to citizens and students from within the EU. Lauren Möller-Lindvist, a visual communication graduate in Denmark, says that there are both positive and negative consequences as a result of free education: “…free education means that even if your whole family isn’t [in] any way academic – you can still end up as a professor”. However, she adds that “…a lot of young people are failing to see the privilege and the opportunity they have”. She further said that many of her classmates “…dropped out and said the reason [was] because they don’t feel like a course (or even high school) is really [for] them.” Additionally, Möller-Lindvist said that the culture around universities in Denmark is seen as “a means of fulfilment and not as a means to an end”, therefore “many people end up switching maybe once or twice a year before finally settling on something and you tend to start later”.

Ole Ziessler, a mechanical engineering student at a university in Dresden, has noticed many of the same issues as in Denmark, such as students rapidly changing their degrees. He says that living costs are still an issue and that “parents are responsible by law to pay these [living expenses]”.

Quraysha Ismail-Sooliman, a freelance journalist, administrator and researcher at the Centre for Mediation in Africa, and a

doctoral candidate in the UP Faculty of Law, says that emulating a foreign country’s free education model would be “naïve” as “[a free education model] must deal with the realities that South African’s face, have to deal with and are exposed to”. She further states that NSFAS can be “improved and tweaked to start a commitment of realising a system of funding that can ultimately make ‘free education’ a reality”.

Prof. Daniel Bradlow, a member of the South African Research Chairs Initiative, and Professor of International Developmental Law and African Economic Relations, has a very clear opinion on a complete loan-free education system. He says, “I do not think that it is possible to have [a] model that is loan-free for everyone.

However, it is certainly possible to have a model that includes grants for the poorest students, particularly those that choose to go into low paying but important disciplines like teaching [and] nursing.”

Prof. Bradlow further adds that there are ways that the South African government can mitigate the challenges faced by governments who offer free education by following a few principles. Firstly, “students should have to contribute to the funding of their education but they should only do so when they can afford to do so,” and “the loans that students get should cover tuition plus living expenses so that every student can afford living expenses while [being] a student”.

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17 October 2016 | Features

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Fees and the foreign student: an international impact REBECCA WOODROW UP has a significant number of international students. According to the international students division page on UP’s website, there are “over 4500 international students at the University of Pretoria”. For any person studying through UP, fees are substantial, however, international students are subject to additional costs.

International students are subject to an international levy that was R2700 in 2016 in addition to the R5000 cost of registration, medical aid, visa expenses and travel costs.

In the international students section under the fees and funding page on UP’s website it states, “Non-South African citizens (excluding students who are citizens of Southern African Development Community [SADC] countries) will be charged double the tuition fee of South African students.” However, there are exceptions: the local tuition fees apply for full research-orientated master’s or doctoral studies and “asylum seekers, refugees and diplomats stationed in South Africa, as well as permanent residents of South Africa only, are exempted from paying double tuition fees and are exempted from the international levy”.

In UP’s strategic plan for 2025 published in November 2011 one method of increasing the university’s international rankings is to “increase [the] number of international students at postgraduate levels”. UP’s strategic plan also highlighted goals for greater diversity which could be partly achieved through an increase in the percentage of international students.

Theresa Muzondo, chairperson of University of Pretoria International (UPI), an association at UP that intends to offer international students a support system during their studies in South Africa issued a statement “consisting of our issues and concerns as international students during this time” which was also communicated with deans and the International Student Department (ISD). According to the statement, “University of Pretoria International (UPI) strongly [believe] that the country and its institutions are in Higher Education crisis.”

Muzondo explained, “It is in these times of crisis that the international student is often an afterthought, neglected or ignored.” UPI is concerned with the potential rise in fees for students who are citizens of countries outside of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) who currently pay double the cost of local fees at undergraduate level.

The statement also emphasised that “short notice announcements leave international students in limbo and uncertainty in regard

to accommodation in residences” and that “international students should not be made to pay extra fees if they have to stay in the residences for an extended period”. Another financial concern is funding on student meal card running out if students have to stay for an extended period.

The status of international student within South Africa is also vulnerable during this time: “If the University of Pretoria persists in rescheduling the academic program, study permits for international students will expire … This would be catastrophic for international students, as they face the risk of deportation and being left stranded.”

Concluding the statement, UPI states international students should be considered “a recognized interest group with proper representation” and has called on the government, UP management, students and other stakeholders across South Africa to “show decisive and responsible leadership” during this time.

Speaking to Perdeby, Lindsey Burgess, a fourth-year veterinary student said, “As an international student from a SADC country, I am not required to pay double tuition, however, at the beginning of each year I am required to follow an unblocking process before I am allowed to register for the year. For most people this is a simple process of filling out the online forms, but for us there is a rather frustrating process of resubmitting half a dozen forms and paying the international levy before we can continue registering.”

Third-year LLB student and Zimbabwean citizen, Tonderai Matanda said, “I only recently renewed my study visa for a further two years.

A point of concern for me and many others is the salvaging of the academic year, so as to avoid logistical problems down the line such as expiry of study visas before completion of our programs.” Matanda went on to say although he supported the call for free tertiary education that “International Students, who constitute a minority at the university, will often not have their concerns and well-being taken into account … I would also like to understand how this would affect International Students, most of whom come from regional countries that have lesser economies than South Africa.

Unfortunately, this year, that has not been made clear and has led to great anxiety, I’m certain, among International Students such as myself.”

A third-year BEng Civil Engineering student from Lesotho who requested to remain anonymous said, “ I think that in this whole process the international students are being

Photo: Lerato Makoka

neglected, because now if say fees do fall, what would that mean for us, do we have to be the only one’s who pay fees or what’s going to happen and how will our fees be determined and what will these hectic increases each year mean for us, because as it stands, I feel international students are not well represented on campus. The SRC is doing nothing for international students in terms of finances. We had a meeting with the past SRC member for international students, which he had called, where we laid all our grievances before him, especially with regard to the Fees Must Fall movement that took place last year. This was Friday 13 May 2016. Even to date, I have not heard any feedback with regard to the meeting unless it went to UPI and I do no not know about it. I personally feel international students are being overlooked or sidelined in all that is being done.”

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SRC member with the portfolio of international and postgraduate students, Benjamin Ho said that the International Student Association of South Africa (ISASA) has engaged with the Minster of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, and the documentaion needed as well as time limits for 2017 applications have been relaxed. If students are unable to complete the academic year due to protests the ISD will provide a letter stating that their studies have been extended which can be presented to Home Affairs whan applying for a study visa.

Ho further said that there is a misconception that all international students come from weathly backgrounds, but this is not the case.

He said the international students at UP are very well integrated into student life, and therefore have similar views to South African students, with most supporting the call for free, quality decolonised education.

14

Entertainment | 17 October 2016

Best ice-cream parlours in Pretoria CLAUDINE NOPPE

Photo: Michal-Maré Linden

Ice-cream season has finally arrived. When the temperature rises so does the desire for a cold and creamy treat. Try these amazing ice-cream parlours when the cravings are just too much to bear.

The most highly rated ice-cream parlour in Pretoria is Royal Danish Home Made Ice-cream, on the corner of Bernard Street and Gordon Road. This establishment has been serving traditional Danish ice cream in homemade cones for 26 years.

Their creative flavours, such as Cherry Brandy and Mocha Almond Fudge, will haunt your taste buds. Ask for a drizzle of their famous caramel sauce for the full Royal Danish experience. They also serve retro classics like raspberry floats.

Kingelato Ice Cream Parlour is conveniently located within walking distance from Hatfield campus. People rave about their pistachio flavoured ice-cream and impeccable service on food review app Zomato. Kingelato has branches in Groenkloof, Waterkloof and Moreletapark. They also offer

half litre and one litre tubs of ice cream to take home.

Aroma Gelato & Waffle Lounge always offers a range of innovative flavours that will have you going back for seconds or even thirds. You can have any of their gelatos as a milkshake or on a Belgian waffle. Aroma is not only reasonably priced but also not stingy when it comes to scooping. Head to their Facebook page to see when they have specials and drool over photos of their delicious treats. You can also surprise someone with an Aroma ice-cream cake for their birthday.

If you’re up for a bit on an adventure, BICCCS in Waterkloof Heights offers delicious homemade Italian icecream. Flavours range from the traditional chocolate to the more exotic coconut. The ice-cream is the perfect consistency and patrons can enjoy the view beside Vespas and local cyclists. If you are not the biggest ice-cream fan, BICCCS also offers fresh breads, pastries, sandwiches and premium coffee.

With summer around the corner, every day is the perfect day for ice-cream.

Image provided.

Twin Atlantic’s Ross McNae talks GLA JULIA BAIN Currently on tour across Europe to promote their recently released album GLA, Scottish band Twin Atlantic are keeping themselves very busy. Perdeby spoke with Ross McNae, the band’s bassist, pianist and back-up vocalist, about their new album, their European tour and a possible return to South Africa.

Where did you get your influences for GLA from?

The rawer side of our musical tastes, living at home for the first time in years and Glasgow’s attitude, and each other.

How do you think GLA differs from your previous albums?

I think it’s more unique. We [have] spent the last few records trying to become songwriters and find our place in music and I think [for] this record we actually had the confidence to shake off our preconceptions and the rules of making a rock song and just finally be ourselves.

What part of the recording process stood out the most for you?

The tracking of the record. We wrote and tracked a lot of it at the same time. Sam and I were just throwing ideas at the computer with Jacknife Lee, our producer, and seeing what stuck. It was liberating. We had never played most of the songs as a band until recently.

Which track was the most interesting to write/record?

There is a song called “No sleep” which was the first song I wrote for the record. It was

exciting along with a song called “You are the devil” [which] signalled a change in direction for both myself and the sound of the band.

What has the response of your audience to GLA been like?

Pretty great. Honestly, this is the first time I think I can say I didn’t really care as much what people thought as I really love the record, but it’s obviously an essential thing for people to like what you’re doing – we’re not naïve.

What were you most looking forward to with the release of your new album?

Playing the music and travelling the world for another round.

What was the most challenging part of creating GLA? I can hand on heart say that there wasn’t really anything that was particularly challenging except for the expectations of Jacknife who produced the record. He believed we had it in us and he wouldn’t let us settle at all. Our musical rules and knowledge had to be traded in for spontaneity and soul at the studio door.

It’s hard to unlearn habits.

You’re travelling to quite a few cities across Europe in the next few months. Where are you the most excited to go?

I love Barcelona and Berlin. The Scandinavian run is always cool too. Honestly, we have a good time pretty much everywhere we go.

Will you be coming back to South Africa any time soon?

We plan on coming back as early as we can in the New Year. Playing at Oppi last year was a highlight of our lives. South Africa is beautiful.

17 October 2016 | Entertainment

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Wacky scientists honoured with Ig Nobel Prizes SHAUN SPROULE Every year the Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded to scientists whose research is deemed “different” from other ground-breaking research. As the organisers of the event put it, prizes are awarded to “research that makes people laugh and then think”. This year marked the 26th annual Ig Nobel Prize awards where scientists received their honours from actual Nobel Laureates. The ceremony takes place at Harvard University and is attended by some of the greatest scientific minds in the world. The scientists are allowed to let loose, even throwing paper planes around the auditorium, delivering one word welcoming speeches, and pulling various pranks and science jokes. Perdeby took a look at some of the most notable prizes won this year.

The Reproduction Prize was awarded to Ahmed Shafik, a renowned surgeon from Egypt. This was awarded for his research into the effects of wearing pants made from polyester, cotton, or wool on the sex lives of rats. He also conducted similar studies on human males.

The Biology Prize was awarded to Charles Foster and Thomas Thwaites for research into different animals by dressing up as the animals and living among them. Foster lived as a badger, an otter, a deer, a fox and a bird at different times during his research.

Thwaites created prosthetic limbs to allow him to live among goats unnoticed as an outsider.

The Chemistry Prize went to an organisation rather than an individual scientist this year. Popular car manufacturer Volkswagen won the chemistry prize for ground-breaking advances in combatting carbon emissions by “automatically, electromechanically” reducing emissions whenever their vehicles are tested for carbon emissions.

Mark Avis, Sarah Forbes, and Shelagh Ferguson won The Economics Prize for research into the perceived personalities of rocks in a marketing context.

The Medicine Prize went to a group of scientists from Germany who made the important discovery that if one has an itch on the left side of the body, looking into a mirror and scratching the complimentary right side of the body can relieve the itch.

Atsuki Higashiyama and Kohei Adachi from Japan won The Perception Prize for investigating whether objects look different when a person bends down and looks at it through their legs.

Although some of the research may seem unnecessary, the organisation hopes that the awards can show how important even the strangest research can be and how science will always prescribe to the saying “There are no dumb questions”.

Illustration: Michal-Maré Linden

YouTube Heroes met with backlash KOJO ESSAH

Illustration: Kago Kola

On 20 September 2016, Youtube uploaded a video to the website that outlined the features of its new update in an attempt to make the video-sharing platform a fun and friendly environment for both content creators and their audiences. This new update is called Youtube Heroes and although the heads of Youtube intended for this update to fix some of the problems relating to offensive comments and content that Youtube faces, the video and the update have both received an overwhelming negative response from content creators who believe that this is ultimately the result of Youtube’s management not listening and engaging with its content creators.

The main point of Youtube Heroes is simple. It is a program that aims to reward volunteers who create the best Youtube experience for everyone involved by flagging inappropriate videos, adding captions or subtitles to videos and sharing knowledge with other users on forums. Anyone can become a Youtube hero as long as they have a valid Youtube account and have signed up to be part of the program. Youtube Heroes employs a level system that sees users ranking from levels 1 to 5, with different rewards available at different levels, such as taking part in “hero” workshops, gaining the ability to mass-flag videos, and gaining access to Youtube updates before they are released.

This new program has received backlash from popular content creators with valid reasons. Joe Vargas, popularly known as AngryJoe, believes that this new system will cause confusion across the platform, as giving normal people the ability to flag inappropriate videos is naïve and unfair, as what one channel views as normal can be considered offensive by another channel.

Youtube channel The Know, known for technology, gaming and pop culture news, reiterated the views of many other content creators that Youtube Heroes gives “internet trolls” the power to potentially ruin popular channels, and even rewards them for doing it. The Know also likened users under the program to Youtube hall monitors, as they believe that Youtube has given up policing its own website and has shifted responsibility onto normal users.

This is not the first time Youtube has come under fire for alienating its popular content creators. Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, the most subscribed person on Youtube, has publicly voiced his frustration with Youtube’s comments system as early as August 2014 and as late as July 2016, saying that the comments section is unmonitored and filled with spam, hate speech and other unwanted content. In late 2013, a number of videos belonging to popular content creators were flagged for copyright issues, which meant the money those videos would have made due to ad revenue would no longer go to the creators, but the companies that flagged these videos.

This left many content creators angry and upset that they weren’t forewarned about this new change to Youtube’s fair use policy.

Jacaranda season

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Entertainment | 17 October 2016

Image: Pitchfork.com

The Healing Component Mick Jenkins CAROLYN HUGHES Mick Jenkins, 25 and born in Chicago, released his debut full length studio album on 23 September. The album is made up of 15 tracks and follows a general theme of loving and being

loved. He released the album under the label Cinematic Music Group.

The album is considered “new age rap” because of its deviation from the conventions of traditional rap albums and its elements of poetry and storytelling. Jenkins highlights water as a symbol for growth, change and healing. He also battles with the idea and perceptions of love outside of its romantic context.

Jenkins uses imagery from his previously released mixtapes. His album positions water and love together to form “a healing component”, spreading love, light and in that way healing the world. Jenkins uses water as a symbol for soothing and healing, as well as a focus on nature’s way of healing.

Some tracks to look out for on the album include “Spread love”, which is significantly smooth and features a tribute to a Bollywood sound and well-placed elements of blues music.

“Drowning” references Eric Garner, oppression and Jenkins’s battle with addiction. This track also plays with imagery of drowning which is used to bring to light the reality of oppression and addiction.

“Daniels bloom” tells the story of religion as love.

Throughout the album Jenkins uses different kinds of love and love in different forms to encourage healing and a general sense of empathy and compassion towards one another.

The Healing Component comes together as a story about love as opposed to a compilation of love songs. The presence of spoken word at the opening and closing of specific songs on the album humanises what is being sung about. It brings to light Jenkins’s personal views on love and puts into context the meaning behind the album. The elements of voice encourage a connection between Jenkins and the listeners, and feel more like a conversation with Jenkins himself than merely an album in a CD player.

Pretending your way through poetry AAISHA KALLIER There are times when at a poetry session you may have little to no idea what is being said between two poets. Here are a few tips and tricks to use in order to enter a conversation about poetry.

One of the most important skills needed in order to engage with someone who is poetically inclined is to listen very closely, pick up key words and remember them. Decipher them and use them to your advantage. When asked a question, refer to your bank of stored key words and formulate a coherent answer around two or three of those key words.

Alternatively, you can also stare intently at the speaker, nodding when everyone else does, and upon being asked a question, reply with a question. Perhaps state that you are only looking for new opinions to grow your own current opinion, all the while never stating what said opinion is.

There are terms that poets and non-poets alike need to know and fully understand before deciding that poetry and poetry events are not the scene to be at.

Rhythm, or rather Metre, means the flow and the rising and falling of the poem. Just as a dancer would have rhythm to properly convey the message of the dance, a poet needs to add rhythm to the poem. When asked how you felt about the poem, mention aspects of the metre of the poem that you particularly enjoyed or did not enjoy. If you want to sound extra fancy and smart, you could mention the iambic pentameter of a poem. This is when a poem has a line with five pairs of syllables with the first syllable being stressed followed by an unstressed syllable.

And lastly, if a poem is short, witty or a pointed saying, you could mention how you enjoyed or disliked the epigram.

You could navigate upcoming poetry events like a pro by using these tips. Some events that poetry enthusiasts could attend are the Spoken Sessions that happen once a month in Hatfield, poetry events that happen in and around Pretoria as well as live sessions that happen every Thursday at Sammy Marks Square.

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Fun and Games | 17 October 2016

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Applications close 28 October 2016.

17 October 2016 | Sport

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Tuks scoops second place at Varsity MTB Challenge ERIN SLINGERLAND The Varsity MTB Challenge, an annual two-day mountain bike race took place in Franschhoek, Western Cape from 1-2 October 2016. University of Stellenbosch (Maties), the University of Cape Town (UCT), North-West University, Potchefstroom (NWU-Pukke), Nelson Mandel Metropolitan University (Madibaz), University of the Free State (Kovsies) and UP-Tuks competed for the podium and the chance to earn the title of top mountain biking university. After each day, the top team in each category received R1 000 and the winners in the Grand Challenge received R2l000 prize money.

The race started at the Nederburg Wine Farm and finished at La Paris Estate in Franschhoek.

The cyclists rode a total distance of 107 km over the two-day period. The race is known for its scenic routes, tough hills and its advanced single track.

Mountain biker and top race sponsor Stephen Classens commented on the event: “This is [one] of the best single-tracks in the world.

Today the downhills were as challenging as the uphills. And the distances were perfect: far enough to make a race of it for the students and enough for the alumni to feel that they’d had a good workout.” The 15 km climb through the plantations towards the top of Du Toitskloof Pass, and the routes through private wine farms were the highlights of day one, while the unusual Boschendal trails through forests and around farm dams were the highlights of day two.

UP was well-represented in the men’s division with the likes of Edwill O’Neill

(Captain), Kyle Wood and Clintin Cogzell. The pair of Michelle Benson (Captain) and Mignette van Staden made up the women’s team.

The UP-Tuks men’s team fought hard on the first day and held their ground remaining second for most of the stage, but they lost their second place spot in the final sprint. The ladies had some misfortune with Benson being a little ill and Van Staden having some technical difficulties. The second stage had many gruelling climbs but the men managed to gain second place overall. The ladies fared better in the second stage, encouraging each other and helping one another up the hills to finish second overall.

Jacques Horn recalled the race, “A tough 53 km lay ahead as we rolled to the start line on day one of the varsity MTB challenge. The start was fast with some district road sections leading to the big climb of the day. As we hit the climb Maties made their move; the rest of us kept it steady. At the top we were in second.

We started descending down to the finish [but] UCT managed to catch us in the last 1 km of racing and we got third [place] three seconds behind UCT. Day two was filled with a lot of fun single tracks and sharp steep climbs over a 50 km route. The start was very fast with all the [teams] trying to get in a good position before we hit the major climb of the day. As we got to the foot of the climb I looked back to see who was there and how many we were in the front group. I decided to go to the front and put in a good hard effort to thin out the front group.

When we got to the first water-point it was all three podium position [teams] upfront again.

Maties put in another good team effort to gap us and UCT. We rode with UCT for most of

The first day of Engen Champ of Champs. Photo: TuksFM

Tragedy forces abrupt end to youth tournament THORISO PHASHA AND KWAZI SOKHELA The Engen Champ of Champs soccer tournament hosted by SuperSport United Football Club at the University of Pretoria High Performance Sports Complex was brought to an abrupt end on 8 October. The tournament was scheduled to take place from 7-9 October, but was cancelled after footballer Kabelo Qabalatsane passed away.

Sixteen-year-old Qabalatsane collapsed during his first match of the tournament at approximately 09:30 in the morning while representing Bloemfontein-based club Roo Stars. He received prompt medical attention from International Medical Services personnel and a medical doctor at the scene. The medics managed to stabilise Qabalatsane before he was taken to Steve Biko Academic Hospital in an ambulance where he passed away.

Event organisers subsequently called off the junior tournament after consulting with all the participating teams. The decision was made on the basis of compassion and as a gesture of respect to the grieving family. The CEO of the host club SuperSport United, Stan Matthews, expressed his condolences to the family and the club at the event: “No words can fully

express our grief and shock at this tragedy.

Unfortunately no further comment can be made until the official medical report is received as to what caused this tragedy. At this sad time our thoughts and prayers are with his family, his teammates and everyone at Roo Stars and all those present when the incident occurred.”

Prior to the cancellation of the tournament, the first day of the tournament was quite eventful with a total of nine matches taking place on 7 October. Qabalatsane’s team, Roo Stars, endured a tough opening match against Old Mutual Academy as they went down in a 5-1 demolition. Soweto outfit Orlando Pirates claimed a hard-fought 1-0 win over SuperSport United in their opening fixture. Umqhele HS opened their account with a 1-0 victory over Chippa United. Roo Stars continued to struggle as they lost their second match of the day to SuperSport United in a 4-0 rout. Orlando Pirates registered another clinical performance against Chippa United with a 1-0 win. Roo Stars and Umqhele HS then played out to a 0-0 draw. Old Mutual claimed their second win of the tournament when they overcame Orlando Pirates in a 2-0 scoreline. SuperSport United also registered the largest win of the tournament with a massive 5-0 drubbing of Chippa United.

TuksCycling in Franschhoek. Image provided

the stage. [With] 2 km to go we put down the hammer and managed to get a gap over UCT to take second on the stage and second overall.’’

The official race results are as follows: in the men’s division, Maties finished first with an overall time of 4:47.50, with UP-Tuks five and a half minutes behind with 4:53.33, and UCT finishing with a time of 4:56.14 over the two days. The women’s main event was won

by Maties with a time of 5:32.34 followed by UP in second place who registered a time of

6:26.28.

The Varsity MTB Challenge overall points tally currently stands as follows: Maties are in pole position on 3 453 points. UCT are in second position on 2 619 points. UP-Tuks are currently third on the log with 395 points to their credit. NMMU Madibaz find themselves narrowly behind UP in fourth with 380 points.

NWU-Pukke are second from bottom with 259 points. The University of the Free State bring up the rear with 254 points.

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Murray Coetzee during Red Bull Campus Cricket. Photo: Red Bull content pool

UP bounce back after Red Bull disappointment TAY LETHULOE Hopes were high as the Assupol Tuks cricket team headed off to Sri Lanka to defend their Red Bull Campus Cricket title, a tournament they had won for two consecutive years. The team started strong, winning two of their three group matches which saw them qualify to face the home side in the semi-finals. Although UP-Tuks started well by posting a respectable 180 in their allotted overs, it proved ineffectual against a spirited Business Management School Sri Lanka (BMS-SL) team who eventually went on to claim the title. This meant that the South Africans lost the trophy for the first time. In light of this, Perdeby reflected on the disappointment with UP-Tuks Cricket captain, Murray Coetzee.

Having lost in the play-offs against BMS-SL by six wickets, where did things fall apart in the match?

Looking back at the game itself, I think we

posted a good total. I think 180 in twentytwenty is defendable. It’s not necessarily a winning score these days but I think batting first and getting 180 runs in a semi-final [is decent]. If we were given that at the toss, we would have taken it but we were then rocked early by a very aggressive batting display which we probably didn’t expect from the Sri Lankans. Being South Africans we are labelled as chokers, sometimes fairly, and sometimes unfairly. It seemed that there was more of a culture amongst the Sri Lankans of going out and trying to win the game rather than trying to defend. They were a lot more aggressive in their decision-making and they took a lot more risks [while having the skill] to pull it off.

They [had] 45 runs after 3 overs, which was a lot. It was something we were not used to and didn’t know how to stem the tide […] before we wiped our eyes out they had already scored 100 in 10 overs, and they needed 80 with a super over (runs doubled) [to win] and by that

stage it was too little too late. It was obviously massively disappointing.

What were some of the challenges you faced which may have led to the semi-final defeat?

Without making any excuses in terms of the challenges we faced, it’s always a big advantage playing on your home ground, and Sri Lanka had that advantage, but in saying that, it wasn’t really conditions which suited them out and out. The pitches didn’t spin ridiculously. I think we were outplayed on the day, but we couldn’t really have prepared better than we did. We covered [all] the bases we could have. They were a very talented bunch of players and they [outperformed] us on the day.

Based on the tournament, what areas do you feel still need to be polished in the team going forward?

In a situation like that, you can try and take as many lessons out of it as you want, but in future situations it will be a different game and different things are going to happen. It’s

more about being able to assess what’s going on in the moment and reacting faster. That will definitely be something on the psychological side and the decision making side that we’ll have to work on. I think our skills were as good as theirs were. Going forward it was a very motivating experience (watching the Sri Lankans celebrate) [in that] we obviously don’t want to feel that again.

Every great sporting team has to experience some disappointment at some point. How do you look to bounce back as a team and regain confidence?

It is true that every great sporting team goes through disappointments at [some] stage. We have to find a way to keep playing our best winning cricket in the big games which [has] been what’s carried us through in the past.

We need to win our belief back and we have an opportunity to do that with the intervarsity tournament coming up, which hopefully will take place and the boys have been training hard.

AmaTuks struggle in National First Division DYLAN JACK UP have endured a shaky start to the season in the National First Division. The team is currently sitting at the 9th spot on the log after five games, with two wins, one draw and two losses. At the time of going to print, UP had seven points and were six points behind league leaders Thanda Royal Zulu, who were sitting comfortably on 13 points.

AmaTuks supporters were hopeful when AmaTuks started the season with a 2-1 home win over Cape Town Stars. AmaTuks followed up the win with a 2-1 victory away to Stellenbosch FC. They initially fell a goal behind Stellenbosch, but came back in the second half with Chemon Petersen scoring the decisive goal.

UP wobbled a bit on their unbeaten start to the season with a goalless draw at home to FC Cape Town in the third round of fixtures. During the fourth round of fixtures UP had a tough game AmaTuks during NFD. Photo: Pearl Mosoane

against AmaZulu away from home. AmaTuks relinquished their unbeaten run to AmaZulu as they went down 3-0. AmaZulu derailed AmaTuks with an opening goal coming from Mabhuti Khenyeza, and a brace from veteran striker Siyabonga Nomvethe to send UP packing.

In the fifth round of fixtures, AmaTuks suffered their second consecutive defeat in a 1-0 home loss against Jomo Cosmos. The result left the team 9th on the log with just 7 points from a possible 15. Currently none of the team’s strikers have scored more than two goals, and according to critics, the team lacks a quality goal-scorer. UP have only scored four goals and conceded six so far this season, showing that defence is also an area of concern.

Going forward, UP’s loss of experienced players during the transfer window will not help their cause either, with striker Lennox Bacela leaving the club.

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