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THREE-SIXT-E | ALUMNI E-NEWSLETTER | ISSUE 7/DECEMBER 2013
“The 1970s were marked by student protest – in 1976 came nation-wide school boycotts against the compulsory teaching in Afrikaans; at UWC and elsewhere in the country."
Gibbs and his colleagues wrote the first UWC SRC constitution with the help of the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University’s Student Representative Councils as well as NUSAS. Such gatherings were illegal and students that were caught were persecuted.
“UWC gave us liberation struggle training outside of the classroom, alongside our academic training. Among the lecturers there were pockets of radicalism – Jakes Gerwel, Adam Small, Janis Grobbelaar, Jimmy Ellis and Fanie Sonn. We were the intellectual generation and prided ourselves in our critical thinking, reading, critical reasoning and debates.” Edith Vries attended UWC first as a student (1960s) and later lectured there. She remarked: “In my line of work it is inspiring to experience how many UWC alumni I encounter internationally. There are UWC women on a variety of business panels and boards; and that makes me extremely proud.” Alumna Amelia Jones qualified as a social worker in the 1960s. “We were quite tenacious and serious young people in the '60s," she said. "We believed we could overthrow a government.”
“There was a great grip of fear on campus but there were those who would not accept the status quo,” Gibbs recalls. His involvement in student politics came at a cost as he soon fell out of favour with authorities on campus and was "encouraged to leave" the campus just before his final examinations.
George Gibbs helped to write the first SRC’s Constitution.
Three years later, he was allowed back on condition that he abstained from student politics and concentrated on his studies. Upon his return to campus, he found that the SRC constitution had been approved and that there was an elected SRC.
to the neighbouring universities. The dance money was used to cover expenses related to SRC work but was not properly accounted for, hence the recurring joke. Gibbs was drawn to student politics after a chance encounter with activists Brian Figaji, Eric Saal, Malick van Niekerk and Brian Engel in the varsity cafeteria. “We were very concerned about not accepting things UWC or UCWC presented to us,” Gibbs recalled at the alumni event. “We wanted change and we challenged the system for change.”
Prof Nicky Morgan spoke on the SRC’s humble beginning.
Dr Yvonne Muthien was arrested for protest action on her third day at the University.
SRC’s early days A standing joke that often popped up among UWC students during the early 1960s regarding the Student Representative Council (SRC) was: 'Mr Gibbs, where is the money?' UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian O’Connell, even joked at the 60s and 70s UWC Alumni Reunion, amid huge laughter from the attendees, that Gibbs (who was in attendance) was bringing the money back. The money in question had been raised by the provisional SRC at a dance. At the time Gibbs, who was doing a diploma in social work, was the only one among his group who owned a vehicle, a secondhand Ford Anglia, which was used to travel
Alumnus Ernest Messina contributing to one of the conversation topics at the reunion.
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