LLB Law student Monde Petje has been named as Convenor of Student Parliament after a secret ballot was held at the Arts and Social Sciences Building during a mass meeting.
Petje said she was running for the position as she believed “this is in the interest of justice and it is important to re-elect a student parliament because it is during meetings of this body that students can engage with university management on issues of importance such as student opposition to fees increases.”
“Student parliament gives students an opportunity to engage directly with management besides having our own SRC. Student apathy decreases when the student parliament is convened, as we saw in our last student parliament sitting, to a point where we had to move to a larger venue, Kruiskerk, because of the high interest from the student body,” Petje added.
Poor attendance of the election resulted in members of the audience nominating themselves for seats on the student parliament. Roughly 50 people were present at the meeting.
Three candidates, Petje, Ruan Nel and Clarence Fredricks nominated themselves for the position of student convenor.
One round of questions was held during which the candidates were asked about their political affiliations and why their details were not known before the meeting as was required.
The candidates who nominated themselves for the position of convenor (L-R) Monde Petje, Ruan Nel and Clarence Fredricks. PHOTO: Dylan Jack
Petje, refused to answer the first question as she felt that her political standing would not affect her performing her duties as convenor. In response to the second question, Petje reasoned that she did not receive the email informing her about the meeting.
“I am a fair and punctual person, so I will ensure students get the platform to ask questions and be listened to. I will ensure that meeting attendees ask direct questions so as not to waste any time. I will state beforehand that people should ensure that their question is exactly that and not a statement disguised as a question,” Petje said.
“I would do very well as a convenor because I am very good at administration and I have been in two student parliament sittings already.”
The other two candidates both stated that they were not politically affiliated and that they decided during the sitting to stand for the position of convenor.
A total of 45 students voted, with three spoiled ballots, and Petje received the majority vote.
An announcement for the next mass meeting will be made by next Wednesday, 26 July. The next meeting will involve the election of the Speaker of Student Parliament.