Introduction
The EFFSC gained
majority status in the SRC of the University of Fort Hare on the 18th of
October after a decisive victory against Neoliberal forces by successfully
presenting a plan, and a programme that espoused the radical demands of the
student populace. The EFFSC set out on a path of ensuring there is a tangible
programme of infrastructure development, increase in bursaries and scholarships
to curb the growing unfunded character of our student populace, increase in the
enrolment rate of the institution as epitomised by the spirit of Sizofunda
Ngenkani campaign, termination of the services of Norraco, removal of Blade
Nzimande, creating a credible system of ensuring bed capacity increases while
opening the room for deviations where practical impossibility exists,
increasing standards and living conditions, increased investment in sports
& recreational development, resolving the transport crisis and making
strategic headway in increasing the fleet, fostering developmental programmes
for all minority groups, and providing a dialectical approach to policy implementation,
and understanding in as far as the institution is concerned. In this article I
will explore our successes and failures in ensuring this programme of radical
development is implemented. I will also dialectically analyse the subjective
and objective factors that led to some triumphs and defeats, while providing a
political diagnosis of the current political terrain, and how the tenure of the
EFFSC led to the current material conditions in as far as the political sphere
is concerned.
The
Programme of the EFFSC-led SRC: Successes & Failures
The programme of
the EFFSC was steeped in Marxist-Leninist praxis, and a Fanonian understanding
that the University of Fort Hare was in a period reactionary deliberately
mischaracterised as the 'decade of renewal' while in practical terms the
institution was entering a phase of rapid neo liberalisation not only of the
administrative functions, but also of the student governance space. The
programme of the EFFSC was therefore built on the ultimate principle that the
EFFSC must defend radical student activism by advancing a radical programme of
action which seeks to promote student democracy, and project the student voice.
It was not only limited to that but also expanded to tangible developmental
programme which is steeped in infrastructure development. Thus, the EFFSC from
the onset pursued a radical programme of action in a bid to radically shift the
paradigm and shift the tides of history in as far as University of Fort Hare is
concerned. By shifting the tides, we must understand it as re-radicalising the
student populace, while ensuring that service delivery across the board
improves. However, the immediate impediment of this revolutionary programme
which would ideally serve as a bridge towards a more radical, and outrightly
socialist outlook was the Institutional Management's concern for cost cutting, and
financial sustainability, which is a cornerstone of neoliberal economics and
politics.
The infrastructure
development programme which can be clustered into two major projects (asbestos
removal and smart classroom project) were projects that we immediately pursued
outside of the operational issues such as outstanding allowances, and registration
refund. The asbestos removal project was already in its initial stages, and we
simply emphasized the part of implementation and ensuring it is done within the
timeframes that would enable students to see the tangible work being done.
Indeed, we saw that happening in both campuses with the project being fully
completed in East London Campus (Main Building), while the project in Alice
Campus is 60 - 70% complete given the fact that many buildings have asbestos. Amid
contractors downing tools and a maintenance department which is understaffed,
we have managed to make headway, and the completion of renovations at the
Library in the Main Campus (Alice) stands as a one tangible site of victory in
the war against asbestos. The infrastructure developments were not limited
to asbestos removal but also the renovation of the Health Centres in both
campuses, and East London Campus bearing the most rapid evidence of such. The
only thing that needs to be done is outside painting and fitting in new
signage. In Alice, more needs to be done, however, the challenges in the
maintenance department have crippled the efforts to have a rapid solution for
Alice Campus. It has become a definitive priority point for the next term, and
as such developments in that area will be heightened. The Smart Classroom
Project has been another project which has been pursued by the EFFSC-led SRC to
ensure that our classrooms are aligned to the demands of the fourth Industrial
Revolution. As such, this project is nearing completion phase with many of the
renovated venues in both campuses exhibiting and demonstrating the transition.
Once again, East London campus due to its size has demonstrated a more rapid
development in that area. As a result, the developments must be welcomed even
though we must emphasize that more needs to be done, and more should be done.
The improvement of
service delivery has been another imperative of the EFFSC-led SRC programme of
action. In many areas we experienced service delivery improvements (Health Care
Centre, HIV/AIDS Unit, Disability Unit, GBVP Unit, SCU), while Residence Department
and Financial Aid were largely hampered by the NSFAS accommodation pilot
project, and the dissolution of the NSFAS board, which has affected aspects of
NSFAS pre-funders (Funza Lushaka & COID), while Transport Department was in
free-fall mode, with SRC interventions and ideas being the saving grace to a
total collapse. The evident failures and weaknesses in some areas of Residence
Department can be laid squarely at the feet of the Department of Higher
Education, more particularly NSFAS. The Accommodation Pilot Project while
trying to provide a framework to a largely unregulated environment of private
student accommodation, failed to provide accommodation which met the necessary
standards that indicate an improvement in standards of living. The pilot project
is a mess from the starting point (allocation) to the final point of payment
for a student (payment to landlord). This is also heightened by the random and
somewhat arbitrary defunding of NSFAS beneficiaries which endanger, and cause
precarity in the lives of students. The confusion created by NSFAS on the
status of pre-funders (Funza Lushaka & COID) in as far as the pilot project
is concerned has also caused another gap, which proves that NSFAS was not ready
to implement this programme.
Financial Aid
& Bursaries has also been dragged into this mess, and as a result a large
amount of focus has been spent on resolving the contradictions, and issues that
arise from the failed experiment that has been the pilot project. This project
while well-meaning, has led to students being subjected to staying in
accommodations which do not even qualify for B grading or A grading due to the
deficiencies and ineffectiveness of the NSFAS accreditation system. The NSFAS
accommodation pilot project has been a failure which has added more problems
than provide solutions as it has opened students to slower service delivery and
maintenance resolution mechanisms. We have had to deal with landlords and in
some cases, drag NSFAS to the picture to ensure they pay landlords so that
services that should be rendered are rendered. While that has been a shared
problem of the Residence Department and Financial Aid, Residence Department had
to deal with the crisis of allocation, which was expertly resolved in
collaboration with SRC. We ensured that no student sleeps in a hallway, under
the bridge or in the streets. As a result, we have surplus beds in accredited
accommodations of close to 409 in East London campus, while in Alice we have
managed to successfully convince NSFAS to allow a deviation to the pilot
project. We are not happy with the paltry sum of R2500 per month for
accommodation, we are pushing for an increase to R4500, however, this battle
will be thoroughly pursued by those who know it, and those who understand it
from its roots. Not Johnny Come Late Organisations that seek to render student
governance into a popularity contest.
We have also
managed to improve maintenance issues in both campuses where the institution
has direct control and intervention. For the first time in a long time, June
renovations of residences became a reality, with some continuing with ongoing
minor renovations and maintenance upkeep. It must be stated that these gains
have not been made solely from an individualistic perspective of Office
holders, but from the collective effort of strategic intervention by Campus
Heads, and assistance and technical & tactical support by Student Services
Officers who have managed to ensure that the Department moves from crisis to
crisis largely intact, and still providing its basic service of housing
students in adequate accommodation, even though some students are subjected to
less than adequate. The gaps have been identified, and the gaps will be plugged
by the only Organisation that possesses a proper Scientific method of resolving
issues, and implementing its programme, the EFFSC.
Financial Aid
& Bursaries has largely experienced swings from good to bad then bad to
good due to the evident impact of NSFAS being put under administration, and the
transition from Dr. Blade Nzimande to Dr. Nobuhle Nkabane. These transitions
have played a role in even how NSFAS has carried itself throughout the year.
This has also played out and trickled down to the NSFAS pre-funders who have
been largely insulated from the crises of NSFAS. However, the blame cannot be
solely attributed to NSFAS's inefficiencies and inadequacies. The blame must
also be apportioned to certain staff members who have made it a habit to work
when they want to and when they don't want to. In some cases, they have tried
to sabotage the work of the SRC in trying to resolve the longstanding financial
issues that have been gripping the campuses of this Institution. However, we
must also be cognizant of the fact that Financial Aid was under one of its most
testing periods given the situation within NSFAS, and the uncertainty that came
with the election outcomes on the direction of the Department as a whole. We
must also register the fact that we have seen an increase in the number of
funders and sponsors. Through diligence, and hard work we have managed to
inspire confidence, and as a result we have seen a return of many SETAs not
only within faculties, but with the Fort Hare Foundation, and Financial Aid
itself. While Financial Aid & Bursaries, Fort Hare Foundation, and certain
Faculties have managed to argue for the scaling up of intake, this has been
offset by the defunding crisis of NSFAS largely effected by wrong course codes.
When registration
concluded, and the enrolment painted a picture of the highest intake in the
history of the University largely due to a radical concessions document which
we won after five tense meetings, and a brief shutdown and boycotting of
registration for 3 - 5 days in both campuses. We proceeded to investigate how
many students were funded and unfunded, and upon zooming in we discovered that
we had close to four thousand unfunded students, with the bigger portion being
postgraduates. We then found that most unfunded students were affected by course
codes and began a process of rectifying them in a rapid manner, after making
preliminary submissions to NSFAS in November 2023. The matter was said to be
resolved in April 2024, and we realised in June 2024 after defunding started
that this matter was still not resolved. We then pursued a radical programme of
getting NSFAS and DHET to account, and in August 2024 we received a
breakthrough with the year adjustments being made. We are now heading to the
stage of ensuring that all students that were wrongfully defunded due to course
codes receive their allowances. We are pushing NSFAS to fix the adjustments so
that funding statuses change, and students can receive their long overdue
money. We are also proud that we have permanently resolved the issue of course
code across nineteen course codes across all faculties. We have provided a
permanent solution to a longstanding problem.
On enrolment, we
have fared extremely well. We have ensured the institution surpasses its
target, and ensured that approximately eighteen thousand students are
registered, with East London Campus having a record number of approximately
seven thousand six hundred and sixty-five students. This is the epitome of the
spirit of Sizofunda Ngenkani and has become the permanent
feature of the EFFSC in governance. We have managed to also secure spaces for
seventy-one LLB students who were told the course is full, until we discovered
that it was not, and an adjustment had to made. As we speak those students are
registered with most of them having funding, while a few are affected by the
dual registration issue which should be resolved in a matter of days. We have
also scored a major success by ensuring that a cohort of Speech Therapy
graduates and are accepted by HSPCA after degree accreditation issues which led
to a public spat. We have also managed to ensure that students are not excluded
for baseless reasons from graduation lists.
The transport
crisis has been a crisis which has been gripping the institution. The promise
of ten buses came and went and never came to life. This has left us with the
reality of an ailing fleeting and shrinking department in terms of staff
configuration. We are witnessing a department that is being gutted by
corruption going through the pangs of reform. However, the lack of staffing is
causing crises which lead to delays, and insufficient number of shuttles to
carry students through. This has been a constant cry of students which we have
carried through in meetings, however, the practical implementation from the
said department has been lacking. Our call for the increase in the fleet, sale
of the old fleet to generate cashflow, and to recoup some money has fallen on
deaf ears, and corrupt hands which we saw being displayed in newspapers and tv
news. We have witnessed the hard work, and the efforts being pilfered by crony
staff members who have no interest in student welfare. We have nothing to say
to them but let the law take its course! We also welcome the SIU investigation
into the Institution, and we see this because of the constant noise we have
made on corruption preceding our majority, and even in our majority status.
On policy and
transformation, we managed to raise the issue of Charters of Institutional
Committees being staff oriented. Fortunately, these charters are expiring, and
our contestation is influenced and driven by the fact that we will have the
chance to amend these charters towards more SRC and substructures of SRC
representation. We are also driven by the fact that we will be able to resolve
the deadlock emanating from the Prospectus committee which has failed to adopt
a Prospectus for close to two years due to the challenge we made for more student
representation. We have managed to produce a stalemate; however, we are
noticing that the emergence of these new organisation is a sponsored ploy to undermine
this policy battle for the soul of the institution. We are also proud of our contributions
towards the amendment of the Gender Inclusivity Policy popularly known as the
GBV policy. We have made proposals for a policy that is steeped in the
realistic shift within the sector after the introduction of the NSFAS pilot
project and the NSFAS transport/shuttle service project. We also made
contributions that seek to uphold the principles of justice, and innocent until
proven guilty.
Lastly, we have
ensured maximum support is provided to the fledging women's soccer club, and
the rugby squads. However, we note that for many other sporting codes largely
based in East London Campus the experience has not been ideal. We hope to plug
the gaps and rectify where it needs to be rectified. We also want to pursue a
programme which shall see us integrate paralympic sporting codes even though
that is an ambitious pipeline project within the framework of radically
shifting the University of Fort Hare towards a progressive, inclusive, and
revolutionary University. However, where we have excelled is in integrating
minority groups, such as students living with disabilities, LGBQTIA+ community,
and international students who could have felt othered if the environment was Afro
phobic. We have ensured that we collaborated with the GBVP Unit, International
Affairs, and the Disability Unit on programmes, even culminating into a
fully-fledged programme for Students living with Disabilities titled I Am Able.
We worked with the Student Governance & Development Unit to pioneer a
Political Organisations & Society Induction to ensure we train future
leaders and familiarise them with the processes. The exam prayers albeit with
different conclusions also provided religious solace for students during a
trying time of exams. Another development programme we seek to pursue is the
Food Parcel Distribution programme for Unfunded Students due to us
understanding the precarity of being unfunded. Due to the bureaucratic red
tape, we have been gripped with delays whereas we requested this programme in
April 2024! This slowness has been nothing but a politically motivated attack
at this programme due to the fear that certain departments would be outshone by
the SRC. We have noted this as an attack on the capacity of the EFFSC to
deliver such programmes.
Political
Terrain as we head to SRC Elections
During these
achievements which I have briefly outlined, we have been plagued by internal
conflict which stems from a gap that existed between the deployees and the
BSTTs which led for the most part of the SRC term. This gap manifested in the
lack of support from the leadership of the time, smear campaigns, and direct
plots with the opposition to destabilise governance so that an impression can
be created that the deployees in office are failing, thus paving a way forward
for their recallment. These tendencies manifested themselves strongly towards
the end of the first semester of the 2024 academic year, leading to the
suspension of Fighter Yamkela Situnda from the SRC due to a concocted plot by
former members of the EFFSC who are now contesting the Organization under the
banner of another organisation which is mimicking the campaign of MKP. This
political terrain developed from fact that the leadership of the time thought
that the SRC Deployees were 'unaccountable', 'not radical enough', and
'generally incompetent' while the scorecard for the most part indicated another
reality. It is largely through a sponsored propaganda and distortion
campaign whereby we have seen a shift in the political terrain towards an open
contestation of the EFFSC. The split which we have seen must be identified as
such since it is undeniable that these counterrevolutionaries once belonged to
this political home of the dejected masses of the poor and the working class
called the EFFSC. They fled after the upper structure disbanded them for
abusing the constitution to purge deployees and collaborating with
counterrevolutionary elements to undermine the victories of the EFFSC in
governance.
They then left
with their supporters and followers who some have been naively caught in their
web of lies, propaganda, and misinformation. Some even claim they are doing
this to save the EFFSC, yet they are violating its constitution in the process.
This is a flagrant departure from the Party, and a spit in the face of the
Organisation and must be treated as such. There is no practical nor ideological
perspective because their motive is solely based on careerist aspirations. They
mostly consist of leaders who would never be considered for strategic
leadership roles due to their anarchic characters, and their unwillingness to
abide by the principles of democratic centralism. Here, we have students who
have chosen to lead students to an amoeba of an organisation which has no form
or shape but a stolen name and identity. They left because they refused to be
disciplined, to be led, and to be guided by scientific politics and ideological
perspectives steeped in Marxist-Leninist ideology because they wanted to do as
they please with no guidance. The use of populism and attacking of EFFSC and
SASCO has been their campaigning tool, and the distortion of the conditions and
the cause thereof is a producing a divided student populace which is being
distracted from the enemies; DHET, Management, and GNU.
We have no option
but to defend our good story, which is yet to be completed, and can only be
completed by the defence of our gains against a management sponsored attack
through the form of propaganda, and sponsored organisations which have no
ideological imperative but to divide and kill the EFFSC, SASCO, PASMA, and DASO
to usher in a liberal and individualistic, populist, and depoliticised Student
governance terrain, in a highly political University.
