University of Cape Town (UCT)
students finally reject Fallism decisively
Tim Crowe
UCT Emeritus Professor and Life
Fellow
On 4 May 2017, UCT announced an
uncharacteristically strong message from its 30000 students. They are sick
and tired of ideology and politics on campus in general and intimidating,
violent and destructive Fallist tactics against the UCT Students Representative
Council (SRC) in particular.
By refusing to participate in a
sham election overwhelmingly dominated by apparatchik Fallist
candidates and/or actually voting against them, nearly 90% of the students eligible
to vote rejected intimidation-based representation on the SRC. In fact, even in spite of this boycott, all
of the independent, anti-intimidation candidates were elected, finishing 1,
2 and 4 respectively in the final tally.
The number 1 ‘vote-getter’ made her open mind crystal clear in her
‘vision statement’: “You can't change a regime on the basis of compassion.
There's got to be something harder. If
you asked me a month ago who the SRC was and what they do, I wouldn’t have been
able to answer you. For too long has the SRC been a group of students merely in
theoretical existence, who represented a student opinion which had no
accountability”.
The competing ‘theoretical
existentialist’ candidates largely represent the Pan Africanist Student
Movement of Azania (PASMA) and the
Economic Freedom Fighters Students' Command (EFFSC)],
both of whose “basic programme[s] [are] the complete overthrow of a neoliberal
anti-black system and the realisation of students' power”.
The top (500 votes behind the leader) Fallist candidate was Masixole
Mlandu, the multi-arrested (for contravening a high court order, malicious
damage to property, trespassing, and intimidation), ‘Black’ nationalist,
Agreement signatory, ‘clemencied’, PASMA leader who had to be released from
incarceration in Pollsmoor Prison to ‘negotiate’ the infamous November
Agreement. But, by illegally
occupying the Bremner Building at the end of March 2017, he violated his
‘clemency’. He received less than 5% of
the potential student votes, and is noted
for stating: “We will usher into this country an attitude of black rage, black
liberation, an attitude that threatened the foundation of whiteness”
“Revolution is the answer to our problem. … We must live up to our historical
task … to change society from bottom up with no compromise”.
Another SRC ‘winner’ and ‘clemency’ violator was EFFSC candidate Sinawo Thambo.
Given the clemency violations of
two of the ‘winners’, Mlandu’s disturbing personal position statement and that
a 25% voter turnout is necessary for a legitimate SRC election, let’s see if
the ‘elected’ slate will be ratified
by the Student Parliament, the relevant committee of the Department of Student
Affairs and then by the UCT Council so a new SRC can be inducted. This may take a while, since the current SRC
vacate office on the 30 June 2017. Then
of course there would need to be a governing coalition between the EFF and
PASMA which has not been the case on other campuses.
Why only boycott?
But, why did most students choose to boycott and not participate in the
SRC election? Some might attribute this
decision to students’ disgust with the publicized disgraceful rejection
by the UCT Alumni Association (AA) of a
motion calling for “support for the [outgoing] Student Representative Council
(SRC), celebrating the positive impact that they have had during very difficult
times”. Initially, a vote by hand
supported the motion. But, this decision
was challenged by an impassioned plea from Ms Lorna
Houston (President of the UCT Convocation and key ‘player’ in its Internal
Reconciliation and Transformation Commission).
In the end, despite a rational rebuttal to it by an alumnus, meeting
chairperson Ms Dianna Yach overruled the vote and unilaterally decided on an
anonymous vote by ballot, resulting in the motion’s rejection. VC Price was present but contributed nothing to
the debate on this motion.
The “difficult times” mentioned in the motion relate to unrelenting
intimidation during 2016 of the anti-Fallist SRC by PASMA-affiliated Fallists
and Mlandu in particular. Because of
this, some described the failure of the Democratic Alliance Students
Organisation (DASO) [which
had been a dominant force in the SRC of recent years] to put up candidates as “gutless”. I countered
this, arguing that students chose not to participate because of a collapse
in their confidence in the endlessly capitulating UCT Executive, academic staff
and alumni.
The pro-Fallist Cape Times described
the election as a Fallist “triumph”.
Fallists comment inter alia
that it was “an excellent outcome” and a result of voters’ “faith” in their
ability “to fight for” “marginalized peoples” “involved in the struggles at the
university” to “eliminate[e] the monopoly held by the executive and the council
of the university with regard to decision making”, thereby “strengthen[ing] gains
already made”.
Should UCT’s Executive and Council once again capitulate to SRC Fallists
without a legitimate mandate, they will totally cede control to a visionless,
violent and destructive minority bent on deconstructive “decolonization” of
Africa’s finest university.
The students have spoken, but will the academics, alumni, executive and
Council listen and act? Their silence is
deafening.
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