Re:Building #2: hitting the ground running
What the SRC is 'like' and other welcoming adventures
Friends, I hope you have had a blessed first month back in Stellenbosch. I’ve now spent just over a month on the SRC, and it’s important to me to keep all of you updated about what has happened over the past month, and specifically what I have been doing to represent and serve you.
As always, my email inbox (29163757@sun.ac.za) is open if you have any queries about anything that the SRC could help with. If you see me walking around campus and want to chat to me in person, feel free to give me a tap on the shoulder and if I’m not hurrying off to another financial accounting lecture I’ll be happy to catch up with you!
I’ll start with my usual “it’s not that deep section” for those of you that don’t have as much time for student politics.
it’s not that deep: newsletter summary
In this newsletter I cover the following key points:
I discuss my personal experience on the SRC so far and share some thoughts on how I plan operate within the council going forward. I discuss how compromise will be a necessary factor in creating meaningful change through the SRC this year.
I provide a summary of the duties I fulfilled for the SRC during welcoming, such as the roadshows, and what the role has entailed of me so far.
I provide a summary of the recent meetings of the SRC.
I give some context around NSFAS, registration and accommodation, and the SRC’s progress in tackling these challenges, and my thoughts on how we should view the SRC’s work in this regard.
Some important links that are worth checking out if you are interested in finding more about the SRC for yourself:
Now: onto the newsletter!
What is the SRC “like” and how do I see myself functioning within this team?
My first month on the SRC has been a busy but enjoyable one. It’s been good to finally have the opportunity to represent you, and to finally get to work on making positive change for all students through the SRC. There have been a few challenging moments, which are to be expected during the busy season of registration, but by and large the SRC has grown stronger as a team through this period and I feel like there will be many opportunities to find common ground with my colleagues to deliver meaningful reform to all students who are part of our Stellenbosch University family.
A helpful way to understand the SRC in its current form is to use the GNU as a reference point. Just like the GNU, the SRC involves a group of people who probably disagree on more than they agree on and are inherently very political. We come from many different economic, educational, social, religious, and political backgrounds. We live in a variety of accommodation spaces. We believe pretty different things. The important thing, however, is this: we agree on most of the issues that matter. For instance, we all agree that government, at any level, should exist to serve all its people, in our case, the students of Stellenbosch University. We agree on the need for due process and greater accountability. We agree that last year’s SRC made some serious mistakes that need to be improved on. We agree that self-serving leadership is no leadership at all, and that sacrificing your free time and energy is part of the gig of being a student leader. We agree that the SRC needs to do more to connect with students. Furthermore, when we don’t agree, even on the big issues, I think we try to do so in the most constructive way possible, an art I admit we are still perfecting.
Although I often have robust discussions behind the scenes with my colleagues — which you are all welcome to delve into via the minutes on the SharePoint — it is the important directional issues that we mainly agree on, and this allows us to function relatively cohesively, in the same way perhaps that the GNU has been functioning. Of course, there will be disagreements, but that’s an integral part of politics. If I wasn’t disagreeing with my colleagues at least some of the time, then I wouldn’t be representing you very well. I was not elected to the SRC to be an invertebrate doormat; I was also not elected to be an iconoclastic contrarian. The balance I must strike over the next 6 months lies between sticking to my values and plan to rebuild the SRC and being flexible enough to compromise and work across the aisle when needs be. Welcome to politics everyone. Often, you might find that you prefer not to know how the sausage gets made, but it remains my job to make sure that if you want to know, that information is as transparent as possible.
In terms of my approach going forward, my focus remains on the original plan that I put to you last August. This is not just a good plan1 but more importantly it is a plan that has a democratic mandate – from you, the voter. To hold myself accountable to this plan, I have set up a tracker that monitors the 40 key deliverables of my plan which will allow you to check my progress.2 These deliverables are taken directly from my original Substack article that I released during the campaign last year. As I begin to work with my colleagues on the SRC to deliver this plan I will update the spreadsheet. God willing, within the next 6 months you will be able to see most (or at least some) of what you voted for being put into action.
Accountability needs to go beyond Google Spreadsheets though. I am also available to talk to you in person in the SRC offices each week, feel free to email me to schedule a time. This goes for anyone in the student press as well, if you’d like an interview, I’ll never turn a journalist down, but I can’t promise that I’ll be able to answer every single question.
That being said, I think I’ll end this section off with a little disclaimer about the constraints around how I share information, now that I am on the SRC. As with many roles in the public sector, there are limits imposed on the sharing of confidential or propriety information. I’ll need to be careful about sharing information publicly with you, for the sake of avoiding potential disciplinary action. I’ve found that the Student Court tends to be a place which has a better view from the outside. Furthermore, you must also understand that I will need to temper some of my stronger feelings about my colleagues on the SRC, for the sake of not alienating them. Sure, I could become an unfiltered keyboard warrior, immediately posting every criticism I have against one of my colleagues, but this would not be conducive to a healthy team environment. Again: think GNU. Criticising your coalition partners is fine on some of the big issues, but if that criticism is perceived as constant and petty then it will derail any attempts to govern cooperatively.
If I have a serious disagreement with my colleagues, you will hear from me about it and so will they, but on smaller disagreements or differences of opinion I will pick and choose my battles. Being a loudmouth political hack isn’t really my style, and it tends not to deliver the best results for students around our campus. The politics of reconciliation, moderation and compromise tend to be the best at delivering real world outcomes.
SRC Roadshows
So what did I do during welcoming? Other than working in shifts at the SRC offices and Coetzenberg to answer questions from students facing pressing issues, one of the activities that I spent most of my time on was the SRC roadshows. These roadshows comprised of 30 to 45-minute sessions at a residence or CSC, where I and a couple of other SRC members introduced the first years of our university to the SRC. We discussed the members of the SRC, how they are elected and the key functions of the SRC. Each presentation included a Q&A slot at the end, which received good engagement. I was proud of my colleagues for the way they engaged with the first years, and many of the first years’ questions showed an impressive interest in student politics – long may it last!
It was encouraging to see a renewed sense of curiosity in the SRC from both the first years and the HC groups we presented to. Curiosity, however, should not be confused with trust. Many people do still lack trust in the SRC, and we can’t shy away from that. However, curiosity is the first important step on the path to trust. From curiosity comes learning, from learning comes knowledge, and knowledge tested over time against experience cultivates trust. We have begun the long road of rebuilding trust with students across our university, but we need to do more than speak to them for half an hour, delivery over the next half year must follow.
First meetings
The SRC has now held its first set of meetings and the minutes and agenda of these meetings are available via the SharePoint. Please read them if it interests you, but read them with a little pinch of salt. Everything in politics is subjective, even the minutes of our meeting include their own slant. For instance, in one of the recent minutes I was misquoted as saying: “Ben Anderson stated that he represents the 2 703 students who voted for him, further indicating that his representation is limited to what he referred to as “male residences” on the SRC. Despite what these minutes claim, this is a misrepresentation of the point I was making in the meeting. In fairness to my colleagues, it was quite an intense meeting during a busy time of year, and I did say that I was speaking on behalf of many of the people I know in male residences because we were talking about an issue that often affects male residences – campus protests. Indeed, I am one of only two people currently sitting on the SRC who stays in a male residence, so my perspective is important in that regard. My colleagues perhaps could have missed the nuance in my stance.
Obviously, male residences are not the only group of people that I represent on the SRC. There are not even 2703 people in all the male residences across our university, so on a simply mathematical level this logic falls through. For my part: I seek to represent every student who agrees with my plan to rebuild the SRC. This includes all those 2703 students who voted for my plan, and beyond that anyone who can see merit in part of or all of my plan to rebuild the SRC.
On this, it is important to understand the difference between the operational and political side of the SRC. Operationally, we as SRC members must act as neutral ‘civil servants’, serving all students impartially. This includes in how we administer our various portfolios, how we run the SRC offices and how we participate in campus events. Politically, however, it is our responsibility to represent the people who gave us a mandate. This is how democracy works, people vote for you if they agree with you, and you represent the people who broadly agree with you. After all, to attempt to do otherwise would be futile. Trying to politically represent “all students” would be to hold a mishmash of political views that spans illogically from the furthest left eco-communist to the furthest right anarcho-capitalist. I do not and have never claimed to represent all students in the political discussions of the SRC. I represent those who agree with my plan for change, that is all I can honestly do while staying true to my values.
NSFAS, Registration and Accommodation
Throughout the registration period, the SRC took numerous steps to tackle the problems facing our university relating to NSFAS, Registration and Accommodation. Some of these steps were reactive, and taken in the heat of the moment, this is perhaps necessary during a developing situation, when the facts are changing quickly and rapid decisions are needed to ensure positive outcomes. Overall, the SRC oversaw a mostly harmonious conclusion to these challenges. I had a few disagreements with some of my colleague’s decisions, such as the mass meeting they decided to hold. Like others have already, I also criticised some of the rhetoric which came from fringe figures on our campus a few weeks ago. Some on these figures went as far to call for the SRC to take a “militant” stance, which I thought was a strange thing to do given that the SRC is a student-led leadership team at a university, with no capacity or mandate to act with militancy. Generally it is my experience in reading political history that the side calling for militancy often ends up in the wrong.
Despite what those on the fringes would have you believe, there has been plenty of encouraging news to talk about from this period.
The number of registered students has nearly ticked over to 35 000, and the university has far surpassed its goals for the number of first years registered.
Earlier issues with accommodation have, through the ameliorating efforts of the SRC and university, begun to subside.
Over 95% of NSFAS students have had their registration blocks removed, and that number continues to fall as the Student Debt Working Group (SDWG), a once-off bailout fund for students with debt that prevents registration, continues to deliver its outcomes to applicants. The SDWG has also received increases in funding from the University throughout this period.
The University, with the help of the SRC and numerous student volunteers (the real heroes of welcoming), also ran an emergency accommodation scheme throughout welcoming to ensure that students arriving from places far afield without clear plans for accommodation are provided with a place to rest while they work out their next steps.
The University continues to allow unregistered students access to the university’s academic resources, such as SUNLearn, so that they can continue their studies while their registration is finalised.
The University has also now finalised negotiations with Standard Bank for a new final year student loan scheme for students in need. The University has done all of these things and more mainly as a result of long and thorough engagements with the SRC, which began at the end of last year. The planning for this period has been long in the making and was a key part of the success of this season.
Finally, the University has provided all of this aid in spite of incredibly questionable communication and financial unreliability from NSFAS. Many of the problems arising during this period, such as course code issues and late or incomplete payments, are directly the fault of NSFAS. It is clear that this organisation needs reform, but that sort of policy change is above my pay grade.
This is a lot of good news. There is of course always bad news at this time of year: mainly that not every student who wants to be a student at Stellenbosch can study here. Our world is a scarce one, where unlimited wants and needs must be met with limited resources, and in our country this situation is only exacerbated. There is not endless money, there is not endless accommodation and there are not endless seats in our lecture halls. There are systemic, political and historical reasons for this, but it is also a sad truth of the world we live in: there will never be enough. Lying to students and telling them that we can make space for them or make a solution for them in the short run only leads them down the garden path for longer. At some point somebody needs to have the guts to say: “I’m so sorry, there’s nothing more we can do to help you.” Hard truths are heartbreakingly still true, even if people don’t want to hear them.
At some point each year, some students will be forced to abandon their studies at Stellenbosch due to capacity, historical debt, NSFAS lapses, accommodation or any of the other issues that affect our university during this season. It is our job as the SRC to make sure this number is as small as possible. Missing middle students, NSFAS students and any student who grapples with historic debt, deserves our compassion, and the SRC has in fact worked tirelessly since the end of last year to support students like this throughout this period. Many of my colleagues deserve recognition for these efforts. The students they’ve helped will live a better life because of their own initiative and hard work in securing their position at Stellenbosch University, and the support the SRC and management offered them. Our university must commit to consistently supporting future SRCs in these areas, and continue to fund schemes like the SDWG, emergency accommodation, and provision of funding through SUFO and loan agreements in future. We’ve had an objectively good year when it comes to solving these challenges, but we need to make sure this momentum is maintained.
The next steps
Currently the SRC is in the process of appointing a new Chief Electoral Commissioner. This commissioner, who will be appointed likely within two weeks after an application and interview process, will oversee fresh elections for an SRC Chairperson, allowing the SRC to be officially constituted as the SRC, and not the interim SRC. This will mark the end of Simi Langa’s tenure as interim chairperson of the SRC, and the SRC will elect a new chair and executive team to replace her. Currently I am undecided as to which of the executive positions, if any, I would like to put myself forward for. I will reach a decision on this in the next two weeks after some more prayer and reflection. After the election of this new executive, portfolios will be reallocated to all the members and managers of the SRC, including myself. I have also not quite decided exactly which portfolios I want to apply for, no doubt, there will be some political bargaining behind the scenes as to who gets what. I will hope for a portfolio where I can tangibly deliver for students, in line with my plan to rebuild the SRC.
Student Parliament also meets next week, which I will be attending in order to engage with other leaders in the Stellenbosch ecosystem about the important issues facing our campus. I encourage anyone interested in the inner workings of the Stellenbosch political ecosystem to attend, but come prepared for a robust, and hopefully thoughtful discussion. Any student who attends parliament has the right to vote on any matters that come before parliament.
The SRC will continue to meet throughout the first term, on a minimum basis of once every two weeks, wherein I will begin to propose the enactment of key aspects of my plan, as laid out on the above spreadsheet. I will continue to update the above goals spreadsheet as I make progress. I plan to release another newsletter before the March break, where I will mention any new developments that occur.
I’m also due to speak on a podcast in the next couple of weeks, which will be a nice opportunity to voice some deeper thoughts on the current state of the SRC and what my experience has been like over the past few months.
Conclusion
I wish you all the best for the week ahead. In my next newsletter I plan to touch base on the progress of the SRC’s budget, and the outcome of the SRC’s internal caucus, as well as the upcoming appointment of the new Chief Electoral Commissioner.
This week, I pray for the leaders for Student Parliament as they continue to prepare for their first plenary sitting in 2 years, and the Rectorate of our university as they continue to lead our institution forward. I am grateful for all of the new students we have been able to welcome to our campus over the past month, and for a blessed welcoming period where our newcomers were made to feel safe and at home here in Stellenbosch.
I pray for wisdom and patience for myself and the rest of the SRC as we continue to try to serve all students with care and honesty. I leave you with the verse of the day:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9 ESV
Well, obviously I would say that – I wrote it!
A shoutout must go to my friends on the Helshoogte HC committee, who gave me this idea through their “Chicken Coop” system of regular accountability checks.