When thinking about student governance, one might be quick to criticise student leaders, without exploring the scope of power their institutions allow them to partake in. Student governance remains complex, regardless if you enter it to indulge in finger foods at larney functions or to go through page-long agendas with no relevance to your life.
Whether student governance is effective or not does not depend on the students; it depends on the university and national officials to make student governance effective and to respond to the matters that student leaders bring to their attention.
This is according to Prof Thierry Luescher, a research director for the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), who has done extensive research on student governance in South African higher education.
Student governance is a really good place to learn how difficult and frustrating politics can be when you are in the thick of it, according to Prof Thierry Luescher. PHOTO: Alexander Brand
There will always be some ineffective student leaders who may be slacking or do not know their role, says Luescher.
“Even if [student leaders] are highly involved, more often than not it is not up to the students to make something happen.”
“Even if [student leaders] are highly involved, more often than not it is not up to the students to make something happen – as little as changing the menu in the student canteens, or ensuring that students with mental health issues get a timely appointment with a counsellor,” says Luescher.
The state of student politics has also changed drastically over the last ten to fifteen years, becoming more polarised and partisan, meaning linked to political parties, according to Luescher.
“Competition between the ANC-led progressive youth alliance, the DA student organisation and the EFF student command have [especially] polarised matters on some [university] campuses,” he adds.
Maties doing it differently
Stellenbosch University (SU) is the exception in this regard, according to Thulani Hlatswayo, coordinator for student governance at SU’s Centre for Student Leadership and Structures (CSLS). SU’s Student Representative Council (SRC) and Tygerberg Student Representative Council (TSR) elections are contested per individual, not with any political party or group. Students are, however, allowed to have political party affiliations, she says.
“We have had, and still have, some students occupying certain student leadership positions while being affiliated to their political parties of choice,” adds Hlatswayo.
Former Stellenbosch University Student Representative Council (SRC) members, Rewaldo Carolus and Almé Engelbrecht working at the SRC Office. PHOTO: Alexander Brand
At other tertiary institutions, student governance takes place under a political banner, which creates a very toxic environment for student leadership, according to Lewis Mboko, former chairperson of SU’s SRC.
“Political parties make [student governance] a very competitive space. Especially when it comes to campaigning. Obviously, each political party wants [the] majority of their candidates to enter into SRC so that it can be, for example, South African Students Congress-led majority SRC or Economic Freedom Fighters Students Command-led majority SRC,” says Jamie-Lee Thomas, secretary-general of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) SRC. Political parties provide support to candidates with campaigning, as well as long-term support, she adds.
Lewis Mboko explains what role political party affiliation plays in student governance. AUDIO: Alexander Brand
“If student governance elections produce irrelevant leaders then the electoral system is broken.”
As important, is the electoral system, with the relevance of student governance depending on it, according to Luescher. “If student governance elections produce irrelevant leaders then the electoral system is broken,” he adds.
However, getting students to vote has been a big struggle recently, according to Mboko.
“Most people don’t really participate in the elections. So, you can’t really blame the system for an outcome that was fair, because it is a democratic process,” he says.
According to Hlatswayo, SU has its own separation of powers. “At SU the SRC is executive, Student Parliament (SP) is legislature, and Student Court (SC) is judiciary. Thus, our systems are designed to produce well-rounded and ethical student leaders who understand accountability and the oversight roles,” she says.
With SRC as executive, SP has a crucial role to play by holding the SRC accountable, while the SC exists to ensure that the application of the Student Constitution is not in violation of the South African Bill of Rights, says Luescher.
SP provides the platform for students to directly engage with their elected officials and excavate their grievances with the SRC, according to Lukhanyo Ngamlana, speaker of SU’s SP.
“It is unfortunate that most of SP’s functionality, especially in terms of realising accountability, is reactive and requires active complaints laid by students to our office,” says Ngamlana.
During a sitting of Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Student Parliament, the speaker, Lukhanyo Ngamlana (above), is required to consider and evaluate various legislative documents which govern SU. PHOTO: Alexander Brand
As a newcomer in 2018, Ngamlana heard great things about SU’s SP and how effective it was during that time, which was something that initially sparked his interest. However, that effectiveness died down over the years, according to Ngamlana.
“It’s no secret that SP has been plagued by a bit of inactivity over the past couple of years. I’m not naive to the fact that it will take a couple of years to rebuild that trust,” says Ngamlana.
The declining number of students wanting to participate as leaders is a concern at SU, says Hlatswayo. The SRC elections saw a decline in candidacy from 2020 to 2021 from 20 to 12, he adds. SP is no exception to this problem.
“The position of Speaker [of SP] is one that has been very hard to fill over the years, due to zero or minimal interest from Maties in wanting to assume the position, which is a bit disheartening,” says Ngamlana.
Ngamlana explains that the reason for the lack of interest is threefold, with the first being an erosion of SP between 2019 and 2020. “I’ve really tried very hard this year to reinstill and reinvigorate SP and cement its relevance and the work that they do and how important that work is,” he says.
The second was that individuals didn’t have the mandatory two sittings under their belt required to be a valid applicant, according to Ngamlana.
Lastly, is the misperception that you have to be a law student to apply or have a law degree in order to successfully navigate the role of speaker, which isn’t entirely true, stresses Ngamlana. “That is something that people really stick to and that really shuts off a large population of our students from running,” he says.
In 2022, SP will start following a bicameral system with two Houses of Parliament, the Students Assembly and the House of Delegates. Each will follow a separate system of election, says Ngamlana.
He has yet to receive an application for his successor.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. […] And it is not being made any easier by the convoluted way that SP is going to be structured next year, with the two houses,” he says.
Focus on “my” needs
With student governance, representative politics is mostly about representing “those like me…”, according to Luescher.
Political parties benefit a lot from students who have served on student governance structures at all universities in the country, according to Thulani Hlatswayo. “Some of these students are serving at provincial legislatures and some are already in senior positions in the national parliament.” PHOTO: Alexander Brand
For example, whenever Mboko felt like one of his SRC members had dealt with an issue more, he would have them represent the SRC with that.
“If I run for the SRC because I have issues – my issues – and there are enough others to generalise them and get me into a representative position, then it may seem selfish, but it is certainly legitimate,” says Luescher.
He sums up student politics best by comparing it to a seismograph for society: it can tell you that an earthquake is coming only a short time before it actually happens.
“If we had more effective, ethical governance – whether in the universities or in society – we would have a fast… a much more just, humane and democratic society. And one which will surely be prosperous,” Luescher concludes.