SOUTH AFRICA

What do former student leaders think of #FeesMustFall?
A quarter of a century into democracy – and with the dust barely settled from the #FeesMustFall student protests which rocked the country in 2015 and 2016, South Africa’s higher education institutions still face numerous challenges. Matters of access and funding are far from resolved – and the hard task of transformation is far from over at most of the country’s universities.A new book, Reflections of South African Student Leaders 1994-2017 brings together the voices of 12 former students* – who held leadership positions in public universities between 1994 and 2017 – on the issues that students faced in the past and which they continue to confront.
Each interview also includes their thoughts on the 2015-16 #FeesMustFall movement and lessons for future student leaders.
A range of different backgrounds
The interviewees come from different backgrounds and political leanings – and include former students from both historically white and historically black institutions. The student leaders have, between them, gone on to become lawyers, academics, government officials, a dean of student affairs, a researcher, a human resources manager, a councillor, a politician and a fashion designer.
The book, by Thierry M Luescher, Denyse Webbstock and Ntokozo Bhengu, is published by open access publisher, African Minds.
It is the second in the Council on Higher Education’s leadership reflections project and follows the 2016 publication of Reflections of South African University Leaders, 1981 to 2014. The research is also part of the Human Sciences Research Council project on the historical dimensions of the #FeesMustFall movement, funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation.
Recognising the student voice
In the preface, Council on Higher Education CEO Professor Narend Baijnath says one of the biggest lessons from the recent student protests is the need for decision-makers in higher education institutions to “recognise the student voice”.
“As key stakeholders, students should be engaged meaningfully and constructively, especially when they represent the vanguard struggles which address legacy and contemporary struggles in our society.”
Baijnath points out that the 2015-16 protest movement raised questions about the role of leadership in student governance: Do student leaders represent the masses of students? Do they have real authority and influence on the student body politic? Whose interests do they serve? … The search for answers to these and other questions was the main motivation, on the part of the Council on Higher Education, to contemplate the research project that has culminated in this publication.
Former student, Muzi Sikhakhane, Student Representative Council (SRC) president at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1994-95 – a year after the end of formal apartheid – described the role of the SRC as “circumscribed by the external political conditions”.
“We learned to engage the African National Congress (ANC) as students in order for them to understand that …‘yes, you do expect us to tone it down because you are now in power. Yes, we can do so, but we need your help with these institutions that continue to brandish your name in our faces when they continue with things which we feel we should challenge’.”
Sikhakhane, a practising advocate and senior counsel, said the main issues facing student leaders in 1994 were: student exclusions, fees and what he calls ‘soft issues’, such as the need for management and academic staff to reflect the demographics of society.
‘I wish we had done more’
On the 2015-16 student protests, he said: “[Those students] are my role models sometimes. Because they challenged things we didn’t have time to challenge, what are called institutions of whiteness in society. We had other, bigger problems … we hardly had time to engage with the curriculum. We tried, but I wish we had done more.”
Jerome September (University of Cape Town SRC President in 1999) said a key reason for the #FeesMustFall movement was “the state of [South Africa’s] democracy”.
“Here is a generation of students who grew up under the false banner of being ‘Mandela kids’, who have been made a series of promises all the way through their lives and who arrive at university, and who are frustrated by the fact that these promises are not reality….”
Among the lessons September offers for future student leaders are: “pick your battles, collaborate, push as hard as you can by using the structures, processes, strategies and tactics available, and do not get side-tracked by playing party politics.”
Oppressive residence culture
In his interview, David Maimela, who was a University of Pretoria SRC member in 2003, South African Students Congress national president from 2006 to 2008 and now has a senior position in the Gauteng Department of Health, spoke about the oppressive residence culture at his university.
Two years before he started as a first-year student, there had been an investigation by the Human Rights Commission into alleged human rights violations at the university’s hostels.
“So I come in two years later, in 2001, and go into a hostel called Morula. It’s a men’s hostel. … I mean, the place has got its own anthem … uniform … practices, meetings, mass meetings, rules, culture, events – and the whole thing. I’m like no, this is too much. I go to this guy – I still remember it … He is Victor Matfield tall … He was the chairperson of the house committee … And he says, ‘Yes, this is what you have to do now. You have got to get the uniform.’ And I say to him, ‘Where must I get it?’ And he says, ‘You have got to go and buy it.’ I say, ‘I don’t have the money.’ It’s as simple as that …
“He says, ‘Ja, but if you want to stay here and belong here, you have got to do what we do.’ And this guy, you know, he is going to create problems for me, and I am going to create problems for him. And then my first rebellion was against the university hostel cultures and initiation traditions …”
Mpho Khati, University of the Free State (UFS) SRC vice-president in 2015-16, is now a fashion designer, model and the owner of the African print clothing and accessories fashion line Indlovukazi.
Khati said she became involved in student politics after becoming increasingly aware of the history of racism and other injustices at UFS.
“ … In my two terms, I felt like the SRC is sort of like a buffer structure between the students and university management where it feels like we are doing something materially to improve students’ lives and push for progressive policies to fast-track transformation; we are working, but management frustrates us so much that a lot is not getting done…,” she said.
* Students interviewed:
• Muzi Sikhakhane (SRC president at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1994-95);
• Prishani Naidoo (University of the Witwatersrand, 1995-96 SRC vice-president (internal) and 1996-97 SAU-SRC president);
• Jerome September (University of Cape Town, SRC media officer 1997-98, SRC chair: student life 1998-99, SRC president 1999);
• Kenny Mlungisi Bafo (University of the Western Cape, SRC president 2002-03);
• David Maimela (University of Pretoria, SRC member 2003, SASCO national president 2006-08);
• Xolani Zuma (University of Zululand, SRC member 2005-06, SRC president 2006-07;
• Zukiswa Mqolomba (University of Cape Town, SRC president 2006-07);
• Vuyani Ceassario Sokhaba (University of the Western Cape, SRC deputy secretary-general 2013-14, SRC president 2014-15);
• Kwenzokuhle Madlala (Mangosuthu University of Technology, SRC general secretary 2009-10, speaker of student parliament 2012, SRC president 2012-13);
• Lorne Hallendorff (University of Cape Town, SRC sports coordinator 2011-12, SRC president 2012-13);
• Hlomela Bucwa (Nelson Mandela University, SRC public relations officer 2013-14, SRC president 2014-15);
• Mpho Khati (University of the Free State, SRC first-generation and first-year students 2014-15, SRC vice-president 2015-16).