DieMATIE
WOENSDAG 23 AUGUSTUS 2017 | GR ATIS SES-EN-SEWENTIGSTE JAARGANG | NO 10
WENNER VAN DIE ATKV-MEDIAVEERTJIE VIR BESTE KAMPUSKOER ANT
Foto: LUKE VAN NIEKERK
GEVAARLIK LEEG Coetzenburg-dam gee ’n aanduiding van die waterkrisis in die Kaap. Stellenbosch is in Junie tot rampgebied verklaar.
Motion filed to annul last four SRC elections and review constitution
‘SRC elections are invalid’ EUGENIE GREGAN
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he 2017 Student Representative Council (SRC) elections should be annulled, along with all other SRC elections that took place under the current “invalid” student constitution. These are two of the requests in the latest court documents filed with Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Student Court. On 26 April Die Matie reported that the last approved version of the Constitution, called the 2011 (2.2), was approved by the Student Council, accepted by SU students, and approved by the University Council in 2011. However, several student structures are operating under an amended version dated 2014 (2.4), and will now have to prove that this version is indeed valid. The applicant in the motion, Bernard Pieters, a postgrad student in geology at SU, is also requesting that all financial decisions by the SRC and SU’s funding of the SRC since 2014 should be investigated by an independent audit firm. Furthermore, it should be established which parties were responsible for following the invalid constitutions and the accompanying expenditures and funding.
After Die Matie’s article in April, the SRC defended their use of the 2014 Constitution in a Facebook post that has now been removed. The post stated that the amendments made in 2014 were valid, since it was discussed and voted on by 10 members of the SRC in a meeting. They also declared that “the correct version of the student constitution is the 2014 revision (2.4) and this is the one that the SRC of 2017 has used and will use”. However, the minutes of the SRC meeting of 8 May 2014 makes no mention of the specific chapters and articles that were changed. Reasons provided for the validity of the 2014 version are that the amendments made were within the SRC’s mandate. Yet the amendments made by the SRC still have to be submitted to the University Council for approval. Certain clauses can also not be amended without a student referendum, which did not take place. Die Matie also received communication from Johann Aspeling, dated 19 February 2016, confirming that the Student Constitution has to be approved by council since it is an official SU document and that the current version has “no official status”. The respondents in the matter
Student 26 minutes late for SRC
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Internet of things
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Endless Daze music festival build-up 7 COMPLAINTS about this post was filed at the Equality Unit. include the SRC, Student Parliament, Stembus convenors, Birgit Schreiber, George Steyn as head of SU Council, Summer van Haght and Inge Odendaal. They have until tomorrow to indicate whether they will oppose the application, thereafter they must serve an opposing affidavit to court by Monday. The SRC, Student Parliament and the Election Committee were contacted for comment, but did not respond before Die Matie went to print. A complaint against the SRC chairperson Nomzamo Ntombela was also filed at the SU Equality Unit for a meme she shared on Facebook
on 16 August 2016. The shared post (image above) mentions the lyrics of “Iyho uSolomon!”, which translates to “Oh Solomon, the Umkhonto weSizwe soldier who killed the Boers in Africa!”. The complaint against Ntombela was filed on 17 May 2017. According to the complaint, Ntombela’s behaviour should be investigated, as “the longing to sing a song which calls for the killing of farmers in Africa is not in line with the values of SU.” AfriForum Jeug also stated that the racial tension created by the SRC leader could lead to unwanted outcomes like violence and malicious damage to property.
Wie sny die beste hare in die Bos? 5