On the 18th of October 2023, the Students of the University of Fort Hare determined their course for the next 12 months. In the words of Marx & Engels, "All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind." Marx & Engels use this quote to highlight the power of a revolutionary transformation. This type of transformation is a sweeping one as it qualitatively and quantitatively transforms one society to another society. As Marx & Engels would say, 'it creates the world after its own image', therefore, the revolutionary transformation is not only a cosmetic change, but a thorough going process which fundamentally changes society from the marrow to the bone, to the skin. The 18th of October 2023 despite our sentimentalist views cannot be categorized in this orthodox Marxist understanding of how a revolution transforms society but can definitely be seen as a landmark in the political history of the University of Fort Hare.
Results of 18th of October 2023
On the 18th of October 2023, the University of Fort Hare went to SRC elections after a 2-year absence of elections due to many bureaucratic maneuvers, and outright suppression of democracy by the Institutional Management in cahoots with a layer of counter-revolutionary students who are Student aristocrats. In the article titled Renew Student Governance Now, and On the decline of SASCO and the Rise of the EFFSC in UFH which were published on the 8th of August and on the 10th of September 2022, we dealt with the Student-Bureaucratic dictatorship, and how it creates student politicians who become student aristocrats. They become aristocrats due to their proximity to managers and the subsequent cooption that comes with it. Thus, creating an elite of students who operate as pacifiers of the student populace which is majority peasantry & working class in terms of class background. These aristocrats collaborated with the Institutional Management to keep democracy at bay while trying to unconstitutionally and undemocratically review, amend, and adopt a new Student Governance Constitution (SGC). This plan failed due to the militant opposition of the EFFSC. Other political players like SASCO and PASMA did it for the opportunistic reason of merely electing a new Secretariat, and seeing whether it was necessary to go to elections or extend the term of the Interim SRC to April 2024.
The fact that such plans were afoot, and the implementation of such was underway shows the degenerate and corrupt state of the political space within the University of Fort Hare, and the Sector of Higher Education at large. However, we must state that such a plan would have never been possible without cooperation from certain forces within the Institutional Management. Thus, the election of the ISP Secretariat was as integral as announcing the date of elections, which the EFFSC and SASCO pushed for after the EFFSC tactically convinced SASCO to support the EFFSC candidate for Speaker (Fighter Luyanda Ndlovu), and the announcement of the elections date in return for the EFFSC supporting their candidate for Organizer (Cde. Haward Mkaza), and elections date not too far apart from what the EFFSC desired. If we are being historically accurate, the final date of the 18th of October was proposed by a SASCO member and Chairperson of the JCI, Cde. Lebho Ralana, and supported by the current Secretary-General of the SRC, Fighter Yamkela Situnda, unless the minutes of the sitting will prove otherwise on the seconder. The fact remains that the tactical alliance of bitter political rivals produced the date which gave political organizations within the institution a sobering outcome.
On the 18th of October 2023, the EFFSC declared the day as a day of revolution due to the sweeping victory it received in Alice (Main Campus) and East London Campus (Satellite Campus). In Alice Campus, the EFFSC received 5/10 seats, while SASCO received 3/10 seats, and PASMA received 2/10 seats. In East London Campus, the EFFSC received 7/10 seats, and SASCO received 3/10 seats. The twist of fortunes happened in the Institutional SRC seats. The EFFSC received 3/5, SASCO received 1/5 while the not so shocking but impactful outcome led to an independent candidate emerging, Cde. Aphelele Matinise. Cde. Aphelele Matinise received 47% of the votes at Institutional level, this was an indictment of Political Organizations across the political spectrum. A sobering realization that students were losing confidence in Party politics. Be that as it may, the same students delivered an EFFSC dominated SRC, with the EFFSC attaining 15/25 seats combined. A truly revolutionary outcome, even though systematically fundamental change has not been experienced.
Services To the People!
The Student Populace of the University of Fort Hare comes from a political period of disappointment and dissatisfaction. This is largely due to the lack of activism from the previous two SRCs. It must be honestly admitted that student governance at the University of Fort Hare collapsed in October 2022, a year after a watershed ISP Sitting which ushered in the Decade of Renewal within the Student political space. This collapse led to an Interim SRC which can be characterized as an arrangement of convenience. The Interim SRC was deliberately structured to purge SASCO from strategic positions, while positioning the EFFSC as contender for the decisive majority vote which occurred according to the plan. While from the PASMA angle of the coin, there was division with the main interest being an accumulation of power, resources, and the bargaining power to determine the outcomes of the ISP Secretariat election and the SGC. In this political process and the machinations thereof, student services were delivered haphazardly. While the haphazard delivery of services was occurring, national issues and crises emerging from the rapid neo liberalization of the Higher Education sector was adding to the crises gripping our institution. The Interim SRC failed to rise to the occasion even with the limited support of the most vibrant Organization in the Institution, the EFFSC.
It was at this point that the EFFSC shifted away from limited support to outright enemy of the Interim SRC, particularly at an Institutional level. This shift was influenced by the degenerating state of student services and the delivery thereof. It was this reality that led to the EFFSC pushing for the convening of the ISP, election of SP secretariats, announcement of elections date, and ultimately the elections themselves. This was done with the singular aim of restoring service delivery, and combating the policy challenges that hamper service delivery. The EFFSC-led SRC has taken the approach of resolving immediate issues, analyzing the main issues and major problems upon assumption of office and duties, and ultimately preparing a turnaround strategy which will bleed into our 5-Year Plan of Revolutionary Change which is in the process of being developed. This 5-year plan is influenced by the success of the Chinese 5-year plans, Vietnamese 5-year plans, and the historical blueprint of the USSR. We have deliberately taken the approach of collecting data of students affected by a litany of issues. Some institutional in character, some case-by-case, and some based on the contradictions of the neoliberal educational system. The 5-Year Plan of Revolutionary Change will be the blueprint on Student Governance, and will guide the Party, and the Deployees for the next demi-decade as we redefine the decade of renewal. The 5-Year Plan of Revolutionary Change will also be dialectically defined by the turnaround strategy which will seek to reposition and re-posture the SRC as a revolutionary organ even though we understand the limitations of the SRC within this reformist system.
What is to be done?
The Party and its Deployees are faced with the task of setting a new precedent and ushering in a revolutionary transformation while facing the reality of doing this in a period of reaction. However, we must admit that the catalyst for the fightback against the reaction of USAF and the Department lies in our fight against the current system of Direct Payment, and ultimately Commodified Education. Thus, we must do the following:
1. Set up a Forum of SRCs seeking to overthrow DPS.
2. Create a Programme of Action which will guide this forum towards undoing this system.
3. Set up Student-led Service Delivery Monitoring Committees as popular organs of overseeing service delivery.
4. Convene a Congress of SRCs across the University and TVET sector to unify the resistance against the system imposed by the sellout union SAUS and DHET.
5. Convene a National Students' Summit with the aim of laying down the foundations for a new students' union.
6. Convene a Sizofunda Ngenkani Plenum, which will plan for the coming political period where all these struggles will manifest sharply.
7. Convene an EFFSC UFH SRC Deployees Forum to concretely plan on how to direct the struggles of the masses of our people within the next 12 months.
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