As one enters the Student Representative Council (SRC) boardroom at Stellenbosch University (SU), a glimpse of the right side of the room reveals a gallery of previous committee members. The most recent pictures will show three black African SRC presidents. However, when Axolile Qina, Nomzamo Ntombela, and Lwando Nkamisa are each asked the question “Would you do it again?”, their answers are resounding “No’s”.
These three presidents have sat in a coveted seat and faced their share of challenges. “I wasn’t carrying only a legacy, I was carrying legacies,” says Ntombela, the first female black African chair 2016/2017.
They confronted challenges in the form of student movements, as opportunities for their SRC’s to showcase their abilities to resolve conflict.
SU’s first black African SRC chair Axolile Qina (2015-2016). PHOTO: SU Corporate Communications
In 2015, Qina was elected as the first black African SRC president and the #FeesMustFall movement spread across the country that October. He believes that the #FeesMustFall protests “…impacted my leadership and term negatively. This is because I was falsely accused of calling the cops on students. This led to deeper student distrust and also mistrust within the SRC itself. We never really healed from that as a team”.
Ntombela found that her involvement in the #OpenStellenbosch and #FeesMustFall movements before her SRC term made her job as chairperson difficult.
“In my first initial contact with someone from senior management, they said to me: ‘You can’t address me in English, you must speak to me in Afrikaans’. He said ‘you think I’ve forgotten that you sat across the table from me last year and shouted at me’”. She adds that this is an experience she will never forget.
Nkamisa, the current SRC president, prides himself in having avoided student protests regarding the published budget and shuttles through the efforts of his united SRC.
However, all three SRC presidents experienced dramatic moments before and during their terms. Qina (known as “Diamond”) survived a #DiamondMustFall student parliament sitting which resulted in the disintegration of student parliament until 2017.
Ntombela’s election was initially disputed. This dispute was later retracted by the Election Convener after she was announced as SRC chairperson. The final decision was that Ntombela had enough votes to occupy the position.
SU’s second Black African SRC chair, Nomzamo Ntombela (2016-2017). PHOTO: SU Corporate Communications
Nkamisa was disqualified from the 2016 SRC elections after his email to Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) members violated the election rules against “using any form of coercion intended to persuade someone to vote for any particular candidate”.
All three black African SRC presidents believe that they were not well received for different reasons. Qina believes his vision of human consciousness which highlights character before racial divisions was widely rejected in a season when people wanted free education and SU to change its language of instruction.
“I remember I got about 80 messages on Twitter to step down on the very night of my appointment as SRC chairperson, even threatening messages on Facebook. I ended up deleting both accounts because it wasn’t healthy and extremely negative,” Qina recalls.
Ntombela believes that her unique leadership style allowed her colleagues in the SRC the freedom to lead as they chose. Her refusal to align herself with any political party led to some internal resistance towards her. Ultimately, disagreements with her vision led to her committee degenerating into factions.
Nkamisa, on the other hand, believes that his reception was mixed but he highlights that his disadvantage was “being black, African and DA. Within the black circles that’s a taboo. You just can’t do that, in Stellenbosch specifically.”
Although they endured rollercoaster terms, these SRC chairs defied great odds. Qina is a recipient of the Professor Russel Botman founded, Recruitment Bursary and he received the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship in 2016.
Nkamisa said, “Ten years ago, I must have been doing grade 8 or 9, I was in a township school. It was packed, hot and stuffy. We all knew we had no future. We were either going to work as cashiers, taxi drivers or security guards…With me, there was such a sense of rebellion that I wanted to prove everyone wrong”.
SU’s third Black African SRC Chair, Lwando Nkamisa (2017-2018). PHOTO: SU Corporate Communications
Ntombela remembers having to hold back her true emotions to avoid being stereotyped as women often are. She says that she had to take on several roles as the SRC chair while her academics were weighing on her as the hope of her family. She emphasised that the university does not give enough support to student leaders, “especially black student leaders” considering the potential struggles with mental health when one occupies these positions.
All three SRC presidents say that student leaders should listen to the students. This is the common thread as Qina explains how he dealt with the #Luister video which detailed racism and discrimination of black students on the Stellenbosch main and Elsenburg campuses. Ntombela and Nkamisa also stress listening as the former advises the current chair and the latter highlights it as his strategy for avoiding protests.
These presidents share the sentiment that there is a greater purpose to the role of chairperson than merely being the ‘number one student’ on campus. Qina felt that God led him to apply for the position, Ntombela was pushed by people who believed in her, and Nkamisa heeded the loud call to service.
Qina said, “Then I prayed a bit and felt God leading me to stand for SRC Chairperson. So I went for it out of obedience and when I got it I cried my eyes out because God didn’t lie to me when he led me on that route”.
Ntombela’s campaign was a collective effort by friends and well-wishers who believed that she was perfect for the role of leading what ultimately became the first majority-black SRC in 2016, at a crucial time in South African student politics.
Nkamisa said, “I didn’t even know that you get paid to be in the SRC… It was never about personal gain. It was about the realisation that our country has lots of problems, however, we are better together”.