5 September 2022
News | 5
SRC suspensions Kirsten Minnaar and Banathi Nkehli
O Students block the entrance and exit to the Hatfield campus bus terminal
the activities on the Hatfield campus, including interfering with and preventing buses from transporting students between different campuses. While we respect the rights of students to protest, it should be done in a peaceful manner with respect for the majority of students and staff who want to continue with the academic programme. It is important to note that only a small group of students are responsible for these disruptions”. Following this incident, students attempted to shut down UP’s Groenkloof campus by blocking gates and preventing the entry to or exit from Groenkloof campus. At Groenkloof Campus, these students willingly negotiated with police, and following these negotiations they elected to stop blocking the gates. Mashile addressed the students on Groenkloof campus on 24 August and stated that “as the SRC we have exhausted the escalation policy […]. The only language that they understand is when we as students do this. And I’m saying guys, that we need to do this. This is not violent as they are making it appear […] We are being as peaceful as possible. But for this shut down to be effective we need to unite.” Mashile continued saying “what is the point of going to class today if you don’t know if you’re going to be able to come back next year?” In his address to the students at Groenkloof, Lalla also emphasised this point. “[what] is a week of class when there is a lifetime of education being taken away from us?” Furthermore, Lalla also expressed that they had informed SAPS of their intention to return to Groenkloof campus the following day and continue the campus shutdown, and that they would once again be willing to engage with the officers on scene. However, on 25 August, in anticipation of the shutdown, UP management elected to close all gates on Groenkloof and suspend in person activities. Deputy Dean, Salome Human-Vogel, emailed all students with the subject line “Student Action on Groenkloof, Mamelodi and Prinshof Campus”. This email stated that “Due to action today on Groenkloof Campus” teaching activities would take place online. However, unlike what the subject line would imply, Mamelodi
Students block the entrance and exit to Groenkloof campus
and Prinshof Campus were never directly affected by the student action and at that time the demonstrators had no apparent intention of moving to those campuses. The conclusion Although UP has stated that the reasoning for the increase has been communicated to students, UP initially only offered an official explanation via a graphic posted on their Instagram page, which contained minimal detail. This graphic also only followed the decision of the SRC to hold a mass meeting. PDBY reached out to the Director of the Department of Student Affairs, Dr Matete Madiba, to find out when students would have been alerted of the first payment increase, if it had not been for the mass meeting. Dr Madiba responded saying that because UP was still engaging with the 2022 SRC, the communication to students was delayed. Dr Madiba further explained that the first payment increase is more complicated than the reasoning laid out in the graphic. She said that the increase is necessary to allow the university to have sufficient cash flow in the beginning of the year, to assist NSFAS students who do not receive their allowances, amongst other reasons. However, even if the reasoning behind the increase has been made clear, UP’s initial lack of communication and its subsequent explanations regarding the first payment increase left students confused, frustrated and without clarity. So although the action taken by the students who elected to demonstrate is controversial, it cannot be ignored that the main motivation behind this action was to engage with students in a peaceful manner, to try and get UP management to revisit their decision. At this time, these attempts have been unsuccessful and the action employed on both Hatfield and Groenkloof campus led to the temporary suspension of 7 UP SRC members. Lalla told PDBY on 26 August “I can assure you. Every presentation that the SRC was at, everything that happened under the banner of the SRC was completely peaceful and it was completely non-violent. There was no property damage, nobody was harmed, nobody was threatened […] in what the SRC was doing.”
n 25 August, UP suspended at least 7 members of the SRC, including the president, Thuto Mashile, and secretary general, Tarik Lalla. In an official statement released on 26 August by SASCO leadership, they stated that “SASCO UP strongly condemns the ‘Vice Chancellor’ of the University Tawana Kupe’s draconian decision to illegally suspend 7 members of the SRC from the University for fighting against the dramatic, drastic, nonsensical, foolish and elitist increment of tuition fees”. A few hours after the suspension, Lalla told PDBY, “We don’t stop the fight. They can suspend leaders, but they can’t suspend ideas. The fact is that, me, I knew the risks when I signed up for this. But the fact remains, University of Pretoria will decrease, or will not increase, its
registration fees. That is the commitment that we’re going to follow throughout.” PDBY spoke to Rikus Delport, the Director for the Department of Institutional Advancement, about the suspensions. Delport stated that the reason for the suspension could not be shared as disciplinary processes are confidential, but said that “suspensions are based on breaches of the disciplinary code for students. We have said publicly that the University, as a last resort, temporarily suspended the student leaders pending an appeal. At the same time we said that these temporary suspensions will be lifted immediately when the students are apologetic and commit to avoiding all actions that disrupt teaching and learning and all operational activities of the university. Management is always open to constructive and fact based engagement with the SRC on all matters affecting students.” On 31 August, the suspensions were lifted.
Politics and the SRC elections Kirsten Minnaar and Banathi Nkehli
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he timing of these demonstrations are also noteworthy when taking into account that the demonstrations started two weeks before the 2022/2023 SRC elections. Players from every side are pointing the finger at everyone else, claiming that their actions, or lack of action, during these protests were politically motivated. Siseka Soga, who was a member of the EFFSC and a candidate for the SRC study finance officer position in 2021, posted a Whatsapp status in the week of 22 August that the “EFFSC UP will not be lured into a SASCO campaign of using a genuine student issue of fee increase to campaign for SRC elections”. He continued by stating that the “nonexistent shutdown is nothing but a way this organisation of lumpens is using to galvanise votes”. Liam Jacobs tweeted the following on 22 August: “The SASCO(ANC proxy)-led SRC alongside the EFFSC will use today’s mass meeting to politicise the registration fee issue without providing a substantial and sustainable solution – as they did in 2016. They’ll also use this as an opportunity to subtly advertise their candidates.” In response to these accusations that SASCO
or the SRC was politicising the movement, SRC Secretary general Tarik Lalla, who is a member of SASCO, said: “Our intention in the SRC and as student leaders is never to politicise it”. He continued saying “[the SRC] never want[ed] to see this issue as a means to mobilise students to vote for any particular group of students or to vote against the others. This is not a campaign initiative. This is not a means to mobilise students behind a candidate. This is a genuine fight. And it’s extremely disappointing that there are organisations that are allegedly for students that are willing […] to politicise this issue along partisan lines in order to make sure that they emerge […] in some sort of structure or in whatever structures they’re contesting.” Lalla continued, saying that the accusations that SASCO and the SRC are making the fee increases a political issue is “extremely disappointing and it’s disheartening because it shows us that [though] we can continue to fight for students, there are people who, the moment they get elected, the moment they get even a little bit of power, are going to sell out to management”. Whether or not SASCO’s presence in the student action was politically motivated is something that every voter will need to determine for themselves. While some of the most vocal SASCO members, specifically Lalla and Thuto Mashile, are not running in this SRC election, it also seems inevitable that their presence in the action has bolstered their fellow SASCO members who are candidates, at least to some extent.
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