Staff Photographer
Mandy Rossouw talked to the heads of the student representative councils at some of our major universities to find out what’s on their agenda. And it comes down to: shabby residences, poor transportation and fee increases
University of the Free State: Heloise Jordaan, SRC president
We have set out this term and year with the goal of serving all students at the university by changing perceptions and promoting unity among students.
Yes, we have had many controversial subjects and issues in the past and it is the SRC’s duty to set an example and to assist students during this period. But, above all, we will still focus on student life in general, despite the present circumstances or whatever may have happened in the past.
University of Fort Hare: Mzukisi Cekiso, SRC president
The main challenge facing our students is fee increments. The management of the university has decided unilaterally to increase fees by 12% on the Alice campus and 8% on the East London campus, with 6 000 and 4 000 students on each campus.
The fees for the residences have increased as well, but the problem is that the residences on the Alice campus are like pigsties and we cannot live in them because there was no maintenance done.
University of KwaZulu-Natal: Sandile Phakati , SRC president
At this university our main challenge is housing. There is a shortage of residences so all students cannot be housed properly when they come to study.
To deal with this we have worked with the department of housing to solicit some residences in town where students can stay.
The other issue is that on the Westville campus students use taxis to go to lectures. But because of the transport system we had, a problem arose between two taxi associations which started fighting. We feared for the lives of our students because you never knew when someone would pull out a gun and start shooting. We now want a shuttle system that students can use.
We are also looking at a fee increase of 13% that we as the SRC agreed to. But we agreed based on an arrangement that the university has with First National Bank where every R1-million that the university deposits at FNB, they make R5-million available as student loans.
We also struggle with entrance for students to certain courses. It is painful to see students who want to study engineering and have glowing matric results not admitted because they did maths literacy and not maths proper. Maths literacy has compromised many students.
University of the Witwatersrand: Pokuaa Busumru-Banson, SRC president
For students the main concern is the large number of students who need financial aid and might not be able to access it. The immediate problem is the exclusion of students because of finances. This will be a problem again this year.
We are also facing the integration of campuses and students. On different campuses you will have students who are Jewish, Christian and Muslim, and we also have people from different backgrounds who need to be integrated. Another issue for students is parking, because lots of them drive to Wits and then have nowhere to park their cars. We need to help them sort this out.