NEWS
5
Pimp My Book prohibited on campus
And then there were twelve
Continued from pg 1... She added that: “Other students have complained about the monopoly that [UCT] Campus Store was given over new and used books. They feel it disadvantages student enterprises.” The exclusive right that the UCT Campus Store has to sell books on campus, means that student-owned second-hand book vendors Pimp My Book and EuroBooks can no longer legally operate on campus. Gama told VARSITY that the SRC had tried to contact Atlas Books to establish if they were providing enough second-hand books on Campus to cater to the needs of the “large student population that is need of them”. She said that Atlas Book’s response was “uncooperative”. Atlas Books did not respond to any of VARSITY’s queries. Gama also said that the SRC had “tried to use other channels to address the students concerns about the availability of second hand books”, but that these attempts were “unsuccessful.” SRC President Chris Ryall writes in his VARSITY column this week that the SRC is “busy negotiating a deal with Juta Books in Claremont (near Cavendish) which will see UCT students obtain discounts on all their textbooks.” Now Pimping at Pick ‘n Pay In an interview with VARSITY, Pimp My Book (PMB) representative Seithati Mofokeng said that, the Department of Student Affairs (DSA) had given
the student-run second-hand book vendor permission to operate in Molly Blackburn Hall, in June last year. She said that this had been done even though their contract had not been finalised at the time and that the DSA had said it would “sort out the contract issues later”. The Executive Director of the DSA, Moonira Khan, told VARSITY that PMB “did not have a contract with the University”. Mofokeng said that after a month of operating on campus, PMB received a letter from the owner of UCT Campus Store, informing them that the Store had the sole right to sell books on campus and that PMB therefore had to close down. She added that the UCT Campus Store owner had also sent a letter to the owner of the neighbouring stall, underneath the library, “telling him that he shouldn’t sell stationery” for similar reasons. After consulting the DSA, PMB was told that they had to vacate their stall, but that this “was a decision coming from the Registrar’s office”, said Mofokeng. The Registrar did not to reply to VARSITY’s queries. According to Mofokeng, PMB continued to operate on campus “to do book collections from graduating students in December”. VARSITY asked Mofokeng whether PMB thought it was fair that they were being dissallowed from operating on campus. Mofokeng said that the business questioned why the DSA allowed them to operate on campus “when they knew or when they should have known about the existence of
a monopoly on the campus?” PMB also questioned if the move was in the interested of the student body. “Why are we pretending as if there isn’t an economic situation all around? Why are we pretending as if we don’t know that textbooks are expensive,” asked Mofokeng. “And then the other question is what do we do about the students that are putting up notices [to sell textbooks]?” asked Mofokeng, adding that “Is that not a secondhand textbook market?” “What we’re doing is not something new” stated Mofokeng, “adding that the only thing that [the business] did was to formalise the process [and] bring the customer and the seller together.” Mofokeng said that PMB had sent letters of complaint to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Nhlapo, the DSA and the SRC. She said that the SRC had reviewed UCT Campus Store’s contract with the University and found that it was “solid”. “For myself, personally, that was not satisfying,” said Mofokeng, adding that she would have preferred it if the SRC had called a meeting with PMB to discuss the matter. “Since then they were like, no we will pursue it further, we will support you. But it’s been three weeks [without progress].” Mofokeng said that she had signed the SRC’s above-mentioned petition, but didn’t know if it was related to their complaint to the SRC. She said the SRC did not inform PMB about the Atlas Books -boycott. Pimp My Book is now operating outside Pick ‘n Pay Rondebosch.
SRC loses another member NICOLE JONKLASS AYANDA Dhladhla has resigned from the Student Representative Council (SRC). Dhladhla, who held the Day Houses portfolio, has been academically excluded from UCT and will therefore not be able to complete his term in office. SRC President Chris Ryall told VARSITY that Dhladhla “is pursuing his studies at another institution and thus will not continue to serve on the SRC”. Dhladhla, who contested the 2008 SRC election under the banner of the South African Students Congress (SASCO) is the third member from this body to resign from the SRC this year. In our last edition, VARSITY reported that the resignations of former SRC Deputy Secretary-General Sabelo Mcinziba and former Health, Safety & Security Coordinator Babongile Mandela were pending. Ryall has since told VARSITY that he had still not received official letters of resignation from either Mcinziba or Mandela. However, because Mcinziba and Mandela have not registered for any academic programmes at UCT this year, they are ineligible as SRC members. The SRC now consists of 12 members. Sticking to a dozen Ryall stated that the SRC held a special meeting last Tuesday to decide on whether new members would be added to the SRC. “At this meeting all three vacan-
cies were discussed, and it was decided, by majority vote, not to co-opt or hold bi-elections to fill the vacancies,” said Ryall. According to Ryall, the main reason for why the SRC did not want to fill the vacant post was because the body felt sure that the people in the SRC at the moment are the best people for the job, and that [they] will be able to pick up the slack and comfortably achieve the objectives set at the beginning of [their] term of office. However, one SRC member voted against the decision not to fill the vacant posts. “I respect their stance completely and will work to ensure that their concerns are addressed,” added Ryall. The Constitutional Committee will meet this Friday to decide whether to ratify the SRC’s decision, after which the SRC will refer the matter to Student Assembly for further consultation. Ryall said that: “It is important to note that past precedent suggests that [this] course of action is not at all in contravention of the relevant sections of the SRC constitution, section 12.1.” SRC members Anton Taylor and Nevena Kostic will henceforth share responsibility over the Day Houses portfolio. The duties of the Health, Safety & Security portfolio will be divided amongst Shannon Bernhardt, Sara Reith and Mzwa Kweyama. SRC Secretary-General Portia Gama will also preside over the Deputy Secretary-General portfolio.
Safety first at RAG Olympics 2009 SARAH JACKSON
Images by Zakareeya Pandey
STUDENTS braved the merciless sun last Thursday as RAG Olympics 2009 brought in a 2500strong crowd on Jammie Plaza during Meridian. The annual event involves teams of students racing to complete a unique obstacle course, and is used by RAG to raise funds for SHAWCO. It is an age-old tradition enjoyed by students as they bid farewell to Oweek and settle into the tedium of assignments and tutorials. According to RAG representative Shannon Cumming, RAG took steps to revamp the Olympics this year. “We needed something new. Especially after last year, we wanted to change the image,” said Cumming.
Safety precautions were also revised in light of the accident last year in which an intoxicated contestant was rushed to hospital after sustaining an injury while diving head first down Jammie Steps. Cumming said that, “Precautions were taken this year that weren’t taken last year. For example, the participants weren’t allowed to dive down [Jammie Steps] headfirst. They had to sit on wooden boards and wear helmets.” The wooden boards were tested by the RAG committee before the event. A paramedic was on site and all contestants were breathalysed before being allowed to participate. Spurred on by the grand prize of a four day trip down the Orange River, contestants fervently threw
themselves into the challenges which included lifting their team mates over haystacks, bobbing for apples and, for one unlucky team member, downing a onelitre mixture of Cream Soda and Tabasco sauce. UCT radio djs entertained the crowd, while the twelve teams were whittled down to two who battled it out in a heated final. Cumming explained that the obstacle course was modified this year in order to comply with new University regulation regarding Plaza events. “Instead of having numerous events throughout the week all events were combined into the obstacle course. This was also because of new UCT policy [which states that] we are only allowed to make noise during
Meridian on a Thursday”. An all-male team from Rochester House won the event. Only one all-female team, from Fuller Hall, competed in the Olympics. Much to the relief of hot supporters, RAG Olympics sponsor Cornetto sold a variety of ice-creams. The RAG Committee also sold boerewors roles, with profits going towards SHAWCO. First Year spectators told VARSITY that they enjoyed the energetic atmosphere of the event. “The RAG Olympics was so much fun. I never realised how high UCT was in spirit and it’s so much greater than high school. It was just amazing,” said a First Year Humanities student. Second Year Actuarial Science student Lesego
Tladinyane, however found the event “disappointing”. “There was more danger last year. There was no blood and ambulances [attending to students] this year,” said Tladinyane. He also said that he felt contestants should be allowed to drink before the event. With the event finishing timeously at 13:45, RAG officials were able to breathe a sigh of relief as these Olympics went smoothly with no noticeable hitch and their contestants all going home in one piece. “Our whole Comm was very happy with the event,” said Cumming, adding that, “It went smoothly and we all enjoyed it.