Varsity
SINCE
1942
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
10 September 2013
VOLUME 72: EDITION 10
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SRC election by-laws reviewed Krysia Gaweda
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Image: Tebesutfu Nkambule
Image: Michael Currin
Create transparency and address the issue of equity. On August 31st, Council approved the four clauses that dealt with the percentage poll of the Election Regulations and SRC Constitutional amendments. These clauses dealt with how the required percentage poll is defined, how vacancies are filled, and the powers of an interim SRC. Whilst these issues were not problems in the 2012 SRC elections, they arose due to the comprehensive review of the by-laws. The poll clauses are about the most appropriate formulation for the SRC election poll in regards to the increasing number and proportion of postgraduate students. DASO UCT Branch leader Emma Jones Phillipson, stated that “DASO fully respects the new regulations put in place since the last SRC Elections (2012)”. She said that DASO believes they will create “a far more civil election environment”. Kealeboga Ramaru, SASCO UCT Chairperson, stated that SASCO too
Image: Jessica Breakey SRC CAMPAIGN WEEK: SRC candidates wishing to run for SRC 2014 now have improved by-laws to aid them. welcomed the new amendments made to the elections by-laws. “As an organisation [SASCO] that believes in fairness, we support the strides taken by the elections committee to ensure that this year’s elections are free and fair for all candidates.” The regulations replace outdated election by-laws in hope to improve the SRC Election process as a whole. Such improvements included: The Election Commission (EC) and Election Appeals Committee
(EAC) are independent from the SRC as well as of each other. They have clear requirements to limit conflicts of interests. The nomination process was improved and streamlined, a better definition and requirements for campaigning was specified and explicit requirements for declaring and publishing campaign spending reports. Neither a candidate nor their support team may provide, request, induce or coerce a voter to use portable electronic devices or
computers on which to vote. No campaign material, apart from Election Commission notices, may be displayed within computer labs. During campaign week, September 9th to September 13th, students are encouraged to attend SRC Election Question and Answer as well as Redsidence Sessions to find out more about the SRC candidates. Visit VARSITY’s website to view all 2014 SRC candidate profiles: http://varsitynewspaper.co.za/
IN THIS ISSUE
s the 2013 SRC elections commenced on Monday, September 9th, students were able to meet the new candidates hoping to be voted onto the 2014 SRC. There are a total of 26 candidates running, the current political breakdown is: 11 DASO, six SASCO, four BLVCK (an independent coalition) and four other independent candidates. Furthermore, three current (2013) SRC members, Mangi Gondwe, Keenan Hendrickse and Lwazi Somya, will also be re-running. Jessica Breakey, a BLVCK allifiated SRC candidate, speaks on her orgnaisation: “BLVCK is a play on the word “black” we swapped the V and A because our slogan is a ‘Vision of Action’.” With candidates studying an array of degrees, majority being in the Humanities faculty, it seems that next years potential SRC candidates will bring new outlooks and fresh ideas onto the SRC council. With the 2012 SRC Elections still fresh in memory, there are concerns that a repeat of the elections controversy could occur. In order to combat such concerns, the UCT Council approved new SRC Election Regulations earlier this year on June 15th. These regulations were put in place to create transparency, as well as address the issue of equity and apply to Faculty Council elections in addition to the SRC elections. The new regulations oversaw the Faculty Council Elections that commenced on August 26th. Last year’s elections saw the seven current DASO SRC candidates being removed from their seats on the 2013 SRC, after alleged misconduct during elections. These misconducts included the incorrect usage of electronic voting as well as over expenditure (the DASO candidates were later reinstated on appeal). The Election Regulations is an outcome of the ruling by Professor Hugh Corder that the SRC election by-laws be revised. This was part
of his ruling on the appeals as to the validity of the 2012 SRC elections results. Owing to this, and in order to improve the Election Regulations, a working group was set up to draft the Election Regulations. It also served to consult UCT students in the first semester of 2013. The work group considered national and international good practice and approaches on student governance elections. Edwina Brooks, Director of Student Development, explained that students played a large role in setting up the Election Regulations. “There are many new rules that have been put in place to ensure transparency and accountability during the election process, we don’t want these rules however, to dampen student participation in the election,” commented Brooks.
Twerk debate
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Red Bull’s racer
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VARSITY, the official student newspaper since 1942, is committed to the principles of equality and democracy.
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