Assumptions about homelessness challenged page 3
DieMATIE
AGT-EN-SEWENTIGSTE JAARGANG | NO 3
WOENSDAG 27 FEBRUARIE 2019
Woordfees-bylaag: Alles wat studente wil weet kyk binne
Piet Croucamp gesels oor politiek en studente se apatie bladsy 14
Sosiale media is nie vir almal nie, maar ook nie vir altyd nie bladsy 5 Meme-worthy Molassesêr page 7
Young guns powering on page 16
EERSTEJAARSTERRE Nomfundo Mfeka sing haar hart uit vir Irene se Molassesêr. Foto: Andrea Oberholzer
Shuttle fee drives students to Admin B
CARLA VISAGIE
M
embers of the Stellenbosch University (SU) student community are preparing themselves to march to Admin B in protest against the newly proposed night shuttle fee today. This comes after SU management announced that a service fee of R9 per ride will be charged to students from 1 March. On Monday 25 February a mass meeting was held on the Rooiplein during which a memorandum of demands by students was compiled. In this memorandum the proposed service fee was rejected and furthermore
it was demanded that the capacity of the night shuttle service should be expanded. A section from the memorandum, which is available on SASCO’s Facebook page, reads as follows: “There should be no service fee whatsoever that students are subjected to, in order to use the shuttle. Subsequently the students reject the implementation of the R9 fee that students are being charged.” Those present at the meeting were, amongst others, representatives of the SRC and the prim committee and the EFF Student Command (EFFSC). The conversation was mainly led by Zizo Vokwana, SASCO chairperson, and
Xolane Smith, EFFSC convener. Smith said that the protesters would “meet arrogance with arrogance”, unless the SU management sufficiently (according to them), responds to their demands. According to him, today’s protest will be peaceful. “There won’t be any anarchy, it will be disciplined, organised and no destruction of property will be done in our name,” said Smith. Pieter Wever, SU manager of Vehicle Services, said that the fee was implemented because students had in the past often misused the system. “Sometimes students would book a place on the shuttle and would not
arrive or would book several places on the same evening because they were not sure at what time they would return home.” He added that in this way they deprived other students who also needed to make use of the shuttle service. Tlotlang Gasekoma, second-year Theology student, is of the opinion that the university should have first negotiated with students before implementing the fee. “There are a lot of issues that they should have considered, because we have so much more that we are paying for on campus. For students like myself who don’t live on campus it’s the
only way to get home, and I don’t have a bursary, so every cent comes directly out of my pocket, and there are already so many things we need to pay for,” she said. Another regular night shuttle user voiced her concerns over the proposed fee but said that she was not sufficiently informed about the protest related meetings. “So you [the protesting students] are protesting, but why are you protesting without informing all the students who make use of the night shuttle service? I will not fight for a cause that I do not know anything about,” she said.
Andy the Landy lands in the wrong hands ZAHLÉ ELOFF
A blockbuster-like car chase played out on the fringes of the Stellen bosch area on Saturday when Andy the Landy, a red 1971 Land Rover, was stolen. This is according to owner Philip Botha, involved in “an amateur high-speed car chase”. Botha has owned the Land Rover for five years. “It’s basically my child – I love it to bits,” he said. Botha noticed his car, Andy, was not in the spot in which he parked it on his way to an 08:00 lecture on Thursday 21 February. When he heard that his flatmate’s car was broken into the previous night, he suspected Andy had been stolen. Botha immediately went to the police station, but they were apparently unable to help him. He checked CCTV footage close to where he lives and saw two suspects breaking into his car and speeding away.
The following evening, while Botha and his friend, Estian Maree, were in De Akker, Botha received a photo of his car saying it was sighted in the vicinity of Cubanna and Nu’Bar. According to Maree, he could see Botha was rattled. “It was like a parent whose child was kidnapped, and they heard they were spotted,” he said. The two drove as far as Kayamandi and Paradyskloof looking for Andy, but gave up after three hours of searching. Botha reported to the police that Andy had been seen around Stellenbosch and then went home. Saturday morning 23 February, Dylan de Nysschen, Botha’s friend, drove past Andy on his way to write a BAccHons test. He phoned Botha and followed the car. He also contacted the Stellenbosch police, who sent officers to the scene. According to De Nysschen the suspects drove past De Zalze golf estate, on the way to Somerset
HEROES Jaco Moller (left) and Philip Botha (right) with Andy. Foto: Armin Prinsloo West, when they suddenly pulled off towards Jamestown by the cemetery. “It is possible that the suspects realised they were being followed as the one guy in the back kept looking backwards and they started zigzagging through the suburb,” he said. When Botha received De Nysschen’s tip, he woke Jaco Moller, his
flatmate. They grabbed a golf club for protection, borrowed a friend’s car, and went straight to Campus Security. According to Botha, Campus Security turned them away because the incident took place “outside the campus district”. Campus Security was contacted but have not commented on the matter. Botha and Moller drove towards where De Nysschen was waiting for them. They phoned the Stellenbosch police but apparently struggled to get through. They then called the Somerset West police department, who sent officers from their side. When Botha and Moller reached De Nysschen at the T-Junction on the R44, they saw the Land Rover cruising towards them and decided to attempt to block the suspects off. “It was the most insane moment of my life. It feels like you’ve seen a ghost, because I thought I would never see my car again. Suddenly here it comes with people I don’t know in it,”
Botha said. He tried opening Andy’s door to pull the driver out of the car, but the suspects started reversing at full speed, 60km/h apparently being the fastest Andy goes. Botha and Moller chased after them. One man jumped out of the car, and the other two abandoned the vehicle shortly after. Police later arrived on the scene. De Nysschen left to write his test at that point, and the police searched the area for the suspects. Thereafter the police took the car into custody to “search for finger prints”. Botha and Moller were told they were very lucky. “Something I learned is that bravery goes a long way and taking a bit of risk can lead to a good story,” Botha said. “I think it was a combination of both bravery and stupidity,” Moller added. Andy was returned to Botha on Monday 25 February.