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Susanna Anbu

Back in 2006, political parties, as opposed

to individuals, contested elections (which is the current system employed today). Could you comment on how this worked, and the advantages and disadvantages to this system compared to the current system?

From 1995 to 2004/2005 the UP SRC was elected on a proportional basis. This meant that student organisations, societies and campus-based branches of political parties could contest the SRC elections. Students elected a student parliament of 50 members – the SRC. The results were determined by the proportional number of votes obtained during the elections. Typically, during September each year, election marketing campaigns would take place for two weeks. This would then be followed by a voting period of five days.

Once constituted, the student parliament elected the SRC president, vice president, speaker and deputy speaker. Based on the SRC parliament seats, each represented student formation was allocated several executive committee seats. Together with the SRC presidency, these executive committee members formed the SRC executive that handled the day-to-day activities of the SRC. Back then, most student activities were managed by students.

The nature of that electoral system was that very few individual candidates got elected. This was a major concern for UP management.

The 2005/2006 SRC election consisted of a hybrid structure whereby the UP campuses, the Vista Campus (now Mamelodi Campus) and faculty representatives (two students from each faculty) each constituted a separate student parliament. Together

2005 SRC President Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg

they elected the SRC president and vice president. From 2006/2007 onwards, only individual candidates could stand for SRC elections. Student organisations continued to nominate, support and campaign for candidates through this system. However, election rules imposed by the UP management made it increasingly difficult to have dynamic SRC elections. It also led to an overrepresentation of specific student organisations, with much lower student participation.

Could you comment on some notable political moments during the time you served as SRC president?

I was elected as SRC president in October 2004 for the 2004/2005 term. I would highlight perhaps three notable moments during this term. The first being that the 2004/2005 SRC was the first to declare a dispute with the UP management regarding the increases in tuition fees. The second would be that we led a protest on 18 July 2005 for the protection and development of Afrikaans and other African languages at the University of Pretoria. In late July 2005 the UP Council decided to revoke the SRC constitution. This would have left students unrepresented for the following year. As the SRC, we mobilised the student body. This led to the decision being overturned.

It is important to note that many SRC members focused on helping poor students to get financial assistance and to counteract academic exclusion.

Could you comment on your participation in the Afrikaans Must Fall counter movement?

After the Rhodes Must Fall movement morphed into the #FeesMustFall movement, Afrikaans became a target. This led to the so-called Afrikaans Must Fall initiative that led to fierce violence on many historically Afrikaans campuses. The violence escalated into confrontation between student groups. To prevent further escalation of the violence, I, together with former SRC colleague and UP alumni, Abner Mosaase, and MEC, Jacob Mamabolo, spearheaded a plan for de-escalation of the tension. The result was a trilateral agreement between the Afrikaans community, the ANC and UP management to secure and protect all students. The #FeesMustFall issue was resolved a few months later.

In your opinion, how do you think the political space at UP has changed over the years?

Student politics used to be an exciting contestation of ideas, marketing strategies and positioning tactics between participants. The SRC and SRC election was the platform where politically minded students from very different backgrounds would meet and debate and bridge the historical gap between racial groups. The SRC used to be a vibrant platform where students’ interests were fiercely represented at UP management level. Tuks SRC was fun!

From the outside it seems that the vibrancy that once was associated with student governance has disappeared. This change might partly be due to the changed generational demographics of the UP, varied social conditions and the changes in student life and structures. Campus tensions mostly used to be captured through the student representative structures. Recently, however, it seems that when political frustration boils over campuses must close.

What are some hallmarks of a successful SRC president in the UP space?

The lessons I learned as SRC president was invaluable and more important than the qualifications I obtained at Tuks. I think the hallmarks of a successful SRC president represent the requirements of any leadership position. Specifically, I think the following points are important:

A good student leader should put the interests of those he/she represents first and foremost.

An SRC president should understand that students’ issues and interests might differ, but they do not oppose eachother: there should be room for everybody.

An SRC president must create a space where the “battle of ideas” between opposing views can take place and thrive.

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2017 TSC Chairperson, Henrico Barnard

Could you comment on the functioning

of the TSC in terms of how members partook in the decision-making process and how student concerns were relayed to management by the TSC?

The TSC functioned similarly to an elected SRC and assumed the same representative authority of students towards the university management. Members of the TSC served on the university authorities (Council, Senate, Institutional Forum etc.) where they formally represented students and promoted student concerns.

The TSC took a nuanced approach to gather information from students and to understand their grievances. As the term of the TSC fell in a time of great turbulence, it was imperative to not only have public forums, but also have personal interactions with students and student organisations to gain an in-depth understanding on different ideologies and perspectives.

Mass meetings were also held in order to provide an open opportunity for students to voice their concerns which were subsequently advanced directly at university management. accountability towards the student body as its usual purpose is only to administer urgent affairs of the SRC until a new SRC is elected. As the appointment of the 2017 TSC was an extraordinary event and ended up having a duration of a full year, it was accepted that the TSC had all the same functions, accountability, and responsibilities of an elected SRC. We also assumed guidance by and governance with the Constitution of Student Governance.

Could you comment on some notable moments that took place under your TSC presidency?

Although not a single notable moment, one major aim and ultimately achievement of the TSC was to restore stability on campus during a volatile period and to re-establish peace and good relations between students, student governance as well as student organisations.

We further organised a benchmarking visit to Egypt (Cairo) as an African country with fee free education and the purpose thereof was twofold. Firstly, to gain an in-depth understanding of the system they use and its advantages or disadvantages in order to proffer some of their lessons learned in South Africa, and secondly to establish future relations in Cairo towards possible student exchange programs and continuous knowledge sharing.

The visit was very successful with both private and public universities visited, valuable information gained, and numerous connections made for future collaboration.

As output from the trip, we drafted a comprehensive report of the findings and relayed the information to the university management to further integrate into the national free education proposal.

Was there any particular stigma attached to the TSC body due to it not being a student elected body?

The reaction from students towards the TSC was initially mixed as there were two groups of students. The first group accepted the circumstances we found ourselves in and therefore were willing to work together. The second group did not want to recognise the TSC as a leadership structure, took it as an opportunity to further their own political agendas and therefore did not display much respect to the TSC initially.

This balance however quickly changed between the two groups as we successfully performed our duties, and the first group ultimately grew to greatly outsize the second and we were able to eliminate the largest part of any stigma. It was a

Image: Twitter - BarnardHenrico

laborious task to gain the greater respect of the student body, but as the success of students was of great importance to the TSC, we worked hard in all areas and with all stakeholders in order to achieve authority and ensure proper student governance.

Could you comment on how much the political space and mode of student governance has changed over time at UP?

The largest change in the mode of student governance remains that the SRC was once a separate legal entity and therefore had the authority to act independently from (or even against) the university and the department of student affairs which ensured autonomy.