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The future of the university during a pandemic

Katherine Weber and Tankiso Mothopeng

In February, South Africa began its COVID-19 vaccinations after the originally planned rollout was delayed. The vaccine rollout strategy began with the country’s healthcare workers as they were most at risk, before access to the public was made available, starting with those older than 60. At the time of publication, over eight million South Africans have been vaccinated, and vaccines are available for all people over 18 years old. Students can be vaccinated at Prinshof Campus.

With South Africa currently grappling with the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, PDBY reached out to the University of Pretoria’s Director of Institutional Advancement, Rikus Delport, to get the university’s stance on vaccines and the potential way forward for its students.

In response to the country’s last level 4 lockdown, UP suspended all contact classes in line with the lockdown regulations. Given the country’s current level 3 lockdown, UP has yet to recommence with contact classes.

However, with the vaccine soon to be available to younger South Africans, PDBY asked for the university’s stance on vaccines. When asked about the necessity of students getting the vaccine, Delport expressed the importance of vaccines stating, “vaccines give near-complete protection against severe illness and dying from COVID-19.

Each person that is vaccinated can save many more lives.”

The university has shown their emphasis on student vaccinations by allocating a site on the Prinshof Campus for staff and students who are registered to be vaccinated.

With regard to the possibility of exams being written on campus during the second semester, Delport had this to say, “the health and safety of our staff are the university’s priorities. It is too early to say at this stage whether examinations will be written on campus.”

Online classes are set to continue for the foreseeable future and return to campus will depend largely on government’s regulation regarding the gathering of groups, along with active COVID-19 cases.

While the UP SRC cannot give out medical advice, the UP SRC has urged students to consult with general practitioners to help advise them on the COVID-19 vaccine and have taken a firm stance against mandatory vaccinations.

The SRC has, however, pledged to help students who are struggling to obtain vaccines and have recommended that if any student is struggling during this time, they should seek assistance from the university’s task team that deals with all COVID-19 related matters.

Online classes are set to continue for the foreseeable future and return to campus will depend largely on government’s regulation 2021 SRC election season begins

Tumelo D Lesufi

The SRC election season has begun and the UP student body will elect a new SRC executive for 2022. The ten portfolios in the SRC can be contested by any student if they so wish, however candidates are urged to follow the standard operating procedures as set out by the Constitution for Student Governance (CSG). The comprehensive management plan with dates and times has been issued in this regard.

Michael Makobe has been appointed as the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the Independent Electoral Committee (IEC) and he can be reached at 071 200 2381 and via makobe.michael@gmail.com. Students who wish to run for office submitted their nominations on 27 August, and the campaigning and election period will commence in the online format introduced in 2020.

A special feature will be published in PDBY with candidate information, and campaign manifestos will be covered on social media platforms. TuksFM will also feature election and campaign information, and university social media accounts will be used to assist running candidates reach the student body with their manifestos and election debates. But some traditional methods for campaigning will also be allowed.

Keep up to date with PDBY as we follow the election period at @PDBYMedia.

Time lapse of TSC structures at UP

Susanna Anbu

Temporary Student Committee (TSC)

The Constitution for Student Governance (CSG) describes the Temporary Student Committee as an interim structure put in place under extraordinary circumstances where the Council of the University believes the SRC to be incapable of undertaking its basic responsibilities as stipulated under Section 22 of the CSG. According to Section 33 (1)(c), an appointed TSC comprises “4 members of SRC and 8 members from other structures of student governance upon them meeting the eligibility requirements in section 24”. The TSC hence acts as an interim structure for student governance to attend to any urgent affairs of the SRC until a new SRC is elected.

TSC appointment in 2013 during CSG review

In 2013, during the period under which the CSG was being reviewed, a TSC was appointed at UP. This occurred due to the electoral model being reviewed. The TSC was initially chaired by Christopher Pappas, who resigned in March 2013. The TSC was then chaired by Jordan Griffiths, who formerly served as the deputy chairperson of the TSC.

TRC appointment in 2012 following 2011 Election Controversy

A PDBY article published on 30 January 2012 documents that the 2012 SRC elections that took place in September 2011 were mired by “political mudslinging”. The Independent Monitoring Body (IMB) declared the elections as “free but not fair”, due to AfriForum’s distribution of pamphlets that had not been authorised by the Independent Electoral Committee (IEC). The SRC elections at that time followed a format where students were tasked with casting two votes, namely one vote for a political party or society, the second vote being for a member of a faculty house, who could only represent their respective faculty and not any political organisation. Thus, the contravention arose when the distribution of AfriForum’s pamphlets read “Vote for the AfriForum candidate in your faculty”, which publicly reinforced the political affiliation of the faculty candidates. Following this, AfriForum lodged a court application against UP in November 2011, based on the claim that UP’s decision to formulate a re-election was unconstitutional and as a result of political pressure. Until the court proceedings were finalised, a Temporary Representative Committee (TRC) was appointed and was chaired by Mthokozisi Nkosi.

TSC Discussion in 2020

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that UP SRC elections and campaigning for 2020/2021 could not be conducted in person as per the pre-COVID template. Discussions undertaken in an SRC meeting dated 5 August 2020, cite that “the Director of the Department of Student Affairs (DSA) phoned the SRC Transformation representative to ask for suggestions on the 2021 SRC elections”. The meeting minutes go on to articulate that the SRC RAG officer, Lebohang Masiteng stated that “[…] the university will most probably appoint a TSC”. The three options for 2021 SRC elections discussed by the then SRC at the said meeting comprised of term extensions until January or February 2021, online SRC elections and a TSC. Seven out of eleven SRC members at the meeting voted for a term extension. Despite such a discussion, an online campaigning platform was adapted to undertake UP’s first ever online SRC elections for the 2020/2021 term.

TSC appointment in 2017 following FMF

2016 SRC elections at UP were disrupted owing to the unrest that stemmed from the Fees Must Fall (FMF) protests. As a result, a TSC was appointed, with Henrico Barnard elected as the chairperson. Barnard explained to PDBY that the University management directly approached and appointed all the members of the TSC from students who are existing or were previous members of the SRC or other student governance structures. He explained that “Once the TSC was appointed, we [appointed TSC members] voted amongst ourselves for the various portfolios, including myself as Chairperson”. Barnard clarified that “The same strenuous requirements to stand for president of the SRC applied for the individuals availing themselves to be elected as TSC Chairperson”.

Dr Matete Madiba, Director: Student Affairs, confirmed with PDBY that there was no plan to initiate the formation of a TSC in 2020. The aforementioned SRC meeting minutes also cited Dr Madiba’s advice that students do not generally take a TSC seriously. Dr Madiba told PDBY that “a TSC does not have the same standing as the SRC, so the authority of the TSC is always questioned because it is a body that is not voted for, and it is temporary. It cannot even assume all the responsibilities of the SRC’’.

Financial status of student political parties

Amukelani Makamu

PDBY interviewed the different student political parties within the UP community regarding their budget for 2021. The Student Political Parties that were interviewed are the Democratic Student Alliance (DASO), the South African Student Congress University of Pretoria (SASCO) and the Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFFSC-UP).

Thuto Mashila, the SASCO Treasurer for 2021, told PDBY that SASCO has not received any funds from the university for 2021, thus the organisation has been unable to run financially driven initiatives. Chardonnay Arends, the Chairperson of DASO said to PDBY, “we didn’t qualify for funding from the university this year but the mother body party funds our initiatives.” Fikile Sibanda, the Chairperson of the EFFSC-UP said that the SRC society’s office in the university allocates a certain amount of money according to criteria which also means that the money received by various registered societies in the institution varies. “The EFF Student Command UP last received money as a registered society in 2019 and received a total amount of R16000” Sibanda said. Sibanda further explained that EFFSC-UP usually spends most funds on SRC elections and that the funds of EFFSC-UP are managed by the elected branch treasurer.

For more information on the budget of the different political parties, students can contact the various treasures or chairpersons.

SRC plan of action on payouts

Manelisi Magoro

According to a quarterly report released by the Presidential office, the SRC liaised with the office of financial aid to assist students who are facing eviction from their residences by ensuring that the delays in pay-outs are rectified and that there is a line of communication with the respective landlords. Some students were aided with funding while the office worked with TuksRes for provision of alternative residence. The SRC also called for revision of NSFAS accreditation guidelines, accommodation limits, and external bursary payouts.

There was a reported delay with the issuing of allowances and some accounts were on hold amid investigations on irregular expenditure at NSFAS. The SRC office of study finance collaborated with the financial aid office in assisting students with pay-outs while students residing in TuksRes had payments made from their student accounts. “A lot of students are currently being assisted with pay-outs as some did not submit their applications [so] students can approach the SRC, and we will assist each student on a case-by-case basis” says the SRC spokesperson.