A TOTAL of 71 candidates have been announced for the upcomingStudent Representative Council (SRC) elections which will take place in over a week’s time. This is the longest list of contesting
students to date, according to the Student Governance Office.
Witsies from different political parties and student organisations are excited about these coming elections scheduled for October 17 and 18.
Jabu Mashinini, a senior programme adviser for student governance, said she is verypleased with the number of candidates running because it means that “students are contesting and are interested in the politics and student governance of the university”.
Wits Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) candidate Hayley Davison said that in the following year she would like to see students from other campuses included in the focus points of the next SRC.
Davison also said she would like to see a more productive approach with regards to challenging issues such as fees and accommodation on campus. She added that student politics and national politics should be separated. “The next SRC should continue to fight for students even if students are not supporters of the mother body,” she said.
While Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (PASMA) has the least number of candidates running with only three entries, candidate Phetani Madzivhandila said the number of entries is a
good opportunity “to have diverse perspectives in student politics which will allow us to depart from the sole narrative of the Project Youth Alliance (PYA)”.
Though PASMA is pleased with the candidate numbers, Madzivhandila said he had hoped for more time to campaign as candidates only have one week to engage with students.
Independent runner Morerwa Ngwato said that student political groups did not accommodate his personal drive to encourage community projects and entrepreneurship.
“Political parties tend to reiterate the same issues such as free education policies but I want to bring business innovation and a community entrepreneurship component into student governance,” he said.
Wits Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are gunning to win the majority of the seats in the upcoming election according to candidate Sivuyile Mhato. “The reason PYA has governed with a majority for so long is because there hasn’t been progressive contestation,” he said.
For this reason, he said it is good there are many candidates running this year because it means that students are taking themselves seriously and taking governance into their own hands. Mhato encouraged students to vote based on what they see in the manifesto and values of the organisation instead of friends and popular individuals because “populism is what’s killing us”.
An international law student who preferred to remain anonymous said she is not voting because the “SRC uses international students as a campaign strategy but do not cater to their issues once they are elected. I’m tired and so I’m not voting,” she said.
Candidates from PYA were unavailable to speak to the media on its prospects for the upcoming elections. Voting for the SRC general elections will be carried
out electronically this year. Mashinini said students will be updated on the processes on Friday afternoon after the candidates have been briefed.
Wits Vuvuzela ran a poll on twitter to find out whether students would be voting in this year’s general SRC elections. SEE BELOW
Will you be voting in this year’s SRC general elections?
— IG: WitsVuvuzela (@WitsVuvuzela) October 4, 2017