SASCO CPT MEMORANDUM OF DEMANDS

 MEMORANDUM OF DEMANDS

Today, 22 September 2017, SASCO embarked on a peaceful march as a way of audibly stating our frustration in the current unfolding’s in the institution and handing this memorandum over to you. We will also be having a human chain stand up and protect our campus march on 26 September 2017.

On Campus Shutdown

Over the past couple of weeks, we have witnessed our campus come to a standstill due to an unlawful protest that took place post the news that the VC had suspended 4 students for the disruption of a council meeting. This unlawful protest even went further by being joined by staff members (gardeners, securities and cleaners) who were protesting for an income dispute. This protest left our residences open to all sorts of dangerous elements which has left students vulnerable and unsafe in a place that’s meant to be their safe zone. A home away from home.

During this period, we witnessed classes coming to a standstill because of a group of students who used fire extinguishers to remove other students from exam venues and classes; we witnessed students being forced to be part and parcel of the protest by being woken up with fire extinguishers and water cannons by the protesting students. We witnessed various buildings within three CPUT campuses being set alight. All of this happened under the supervision of private securities, residence parents and the management, which warrants a questioning the purpose of hiring private securities on campus when such destructions can still take place under their supervision on campus.

This led to SASCO starting a #SaveOurInstitution campaign. In as much as we don’t endorse students’ victimisation by the management, neither do we endorse the barbaric and hooliganism acts that has been portrayed by these few protesting students. This campaign is about getting the institution to conclude its 2017 academic year in 2017. It is calling for peace and stability on campus.  It is with this campaign whereby we call upon the management to demilitarise our campuses. It is with this campaign that we call on the management to ensure that all students are safe and sound in their respective residences. As SASCO, we are yet to see a more tangible solution being taken by the management to ease the current situation on our campus.

On Workers Struggles

We fully support workers in their struggles and this has been proven by our consecutive support in all important decision-making committees. In as much as SASCO supports workers in their struggles, we cannot lead workers struggles. Workers need to advance their struggle with their unions and carry on with their wage struggle further and not student political structures. Unions need to lead this struggle and negotiate for a better decent wage for all their members in all the relevant decision-making meetings.

It’s about time that the management withdraws from its tendency of allowing students to lead workers issues yet workers have unions that they are subscribed to. Workers know the correct channels to follow when facing such tribulations and they should follow it. Had the correct channels been followed from the onset, we would not be where we are today.

The institution has unions registered within it and its their duty to sit down with the workers and all relevant departments to resolve this issue that workers are facing. It is these unions that are more equipped to be negotiating for wage increase and any worker related issue.

On Residences

The institution needs to ensure that all residence parents do their job effectively. They need to take charge of the situation and account to all things that are reported to them in their capacity as residence parents.

As SASCO, we call upon the management to save this academic year by ensuring that there is peace and stability on campus, re open all study facilities from faculty buildings, libraries to IT centres.

On gender struggles

We furthermore call upon the management to ensure that serious actions must be taken against all women abusers on campus. This call comes after the month of August whereby there was a national call to put an end to all gender based violence cases in the country and we would like to echo that call to the CPUT management. A larger number of female students are assaulted by male students on a weekly basis and these female students have lost faith in the judiciary office and run to our offices for assistance as the only thing the judicial office will try to instil is peace and not push for an end to gender based violence. CPUT is one of the only University with no rape stats and this needs to come to an end and the university must stop hiding the truth.

On Finances

As SASCO we say NO FINANCIAL EXCLUSIONS. Students are not paying their fees because they want to or would like to see a reload of Fees Must Fall, instead students don’t pay their fees because they cannot afford to do so. The management needs to stop operating the institution with a primary objective of getting funding into the institution like its some business. This is an academic institution and the management should be operating it as such.

Nothing is more heart aching than seeing a student being deprived from a basic human right which is education because of their financial status. Already Fees Must Fall is looming on the ground and the constant emails we have been receiving ensuring us that if our fees are not paid up we will be blocked upon registration in the 2018 academic year, is not assisting this current situation at all, instead it is like paraffin that is poured onto a fire.

The institution needs to find a better channel of ensuring fees are paid without excluding students. The institution needs to do away with the financial exclusion policy. It has become a norm and tradition at CPUT that constantly every second semester there needs to be a protest of some sort that seeks to voice out student’s frustrations with regards to financial exclusions. The management is not there when students are crying tears during the registration because of being financially excluded. The management is not there when students resort to jobs such as Call Centre Associates and Prostitution because students are trying to make quick cash to repay their fees so they can conclude their respective qualifications.

The institutions policy of handing students over to debt collectors is neither an option as this deprives many people the right to education more especially the black child. Your policies state that if someone is handed over to debt collectors they need to repay their debt in full before coming back into the institution. Of course, the fees increase for those handed over as it now includes the interest of the debt collector of which this makes the burden even harder for the poor.

We also strongly feel that the Financial Aid office needs to have a better communication strategy in place to communicate with the general student of CPUT. This is said because it is evident that their current communication medium is failing. SASCO proposes that every second month, there should be a meeting between two reps from each structure and the Financial Aid office to update students on new developments within the office and new opportunities for students such as bursaries and scholarships. With this in place, more students will be reached in record time.

SASCO advocates for academic excellence and there is no way students can be able to excel academically when the institution is on constant shutdown mode.

We don’t want a delay in our academic year. We don’t want further destructions of property. We don’t want further cases of assault and threats. We don’t want a further compromise of student’s safety. We call upon the management to act now before this matter escalates even further and results in the death of a student or staff member due to all this unrest happening. It’s time the management pays attention to the cry of the majority.

With the aforementioned we therefore Demand the following;

1.     No to Financial exclusion as per the standing Council Resolutions.

2.     Building of New Residences to meet the needs shortages of all deserving students.

3.     Extension of Library and Shuttle Hours to meet students’ academic needs.

4.     Conducive studying and Sporting facilities.

5.     Sensitivity and extension of assessment dates and submissions.

6.      Extension of Academic Applications from 30 September to 30 October.

7.     Extension of NSFAS applications to 30 October.

8.     Students and Worker safety commitment.

9.     Safe and Healthy studying environment in our residences.

Given commitment to these demands, we guarantee safe and stable learning and teaching environment with new culture of engagement in resolving all necessary disputes. We give 78hours for implementer response.

Yours in Education

SASCO CAPE TOWN BRANCH

2017 SASCO WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GENERAL CONGRESS

The 2017 South African Students Congress (SASCO) Western Cape Provincial General Congress (PGC) was initially meant to take place on Friday, 01 September 2017. However, due to the Braai program Bellville hosted and furthermore a 3-hour long PEC meeting that took place during that mist of the evening the PGC did not sit on that day and as a result it officially sat on Saturday, 02 September 2017 at 16:00 at Stellenbosch University.

National Organiser of SASCO, Cde Lwado Majiza, was deployed by the NEC to officiate the PGC. We can’t also shy away from the fact that SASCO is a political structure and thus operates as one even though it is meant to champion the interest of students yet we have witnessed it turning into a political power climbing organisation where comrades would prefer to see their own branch fail at the expense of them climbing up the political leader. The PGC was filled by politics that seek to entertain certain individuals’ interests and not necessary the whole.

Initially, the CPT branch was the only branch that was present that was not welcomed into the PGC venue on the basis that there was a dispute towards the AGM that sat in CPUT Cape Town campus on 05 August 2017. It was thus resolved by the NEC deployee, Cde Majiza, with consultation of the SG Cde Makata that CPT should be allowed into the venue only as observers.

Cde Majiza stated that SASCO exists because there are issues in our respective universities that needs to be fixed. The gathering (PGC) took place during the anniversary of a historic time whereby the country remembers the formation of the South African South Congress (SASCO), on September 1st – 6th, 1991.

He went on to further state that various debates on Presidential Reports have been hosted. The President of SASCO Cde Moloja has released a statement informing the public that he has received the report and will release an official statement in due time with regards to the Presidential Report on Free Higher Education and the stance of the organisation.

The PEC meeting that sat on Friday, 01 September 2017, evening with the NEC deployee Cde Majiza adopted the credentials and resolved that all delegates would partake in the PGC. With that, it seemed clear that credentials had been adopted as per the communique given to the delegates. However, on Saturday it was discovered that Cde Mgxekeni had sent an email to the SG. The email was sent on 17 August 2017 and stated that he was complaining about the legitimacy of the AGM because he never sent an email to membership and PEC informing them about the AGM and the rest of his BEC was unaware of it.

When Cde Mgxekeni was called, he stated that he was not disputing anything however he was stating that he has been inactive for months and thus could send that email stating that an AGM will be sitting because he no affairs with the matters of the branch. The email was read by the presiding officer Cde Majozi. The presiding officer also stated that Cde Matiwane is indeed allowed to give a political input in meetings of SASCO be it AGM or BGM with or without the permission of the PEC as he is the political head.

The CPT Branch was discussed intensively and it was quite clear from the what was said that not all members of the branch who were pro the idea of saving the branch.
What was failed to be answered by the presiding officer is whether if it is only the inactive secretary who has powers to inform the PEC of an email he has called. In all the PGC resolved that the SASCO CPT BEC should be dissolved and an AGM should be conveyed soon. Mowbray campus was later on also dissolved as well.

It was also discussed that there are bogus deployees within the PGC. Some students from other institutions represented other institutions yet those respective institutions did not seat any BGM or AGM to deploy people from their specific branches.  There was also a CPUT student who was an accepted delegate of College of Cape Town Crawford campus. Despite all these irregularities the PGC sat and recognised them as true delegates.

There were 60 expected delegates in the PGC which consisted of 50 branch delegates and 10 PEC members. The actual delegates that were present at the PGC where 32 branch delegates which excludes the SASCO CPT delegates. PEC members were 10 in total and thus that brought the number of actual delegates to 42. From all of this 20 branches where expected in total and from those 20 branches only 15 branches were present.

The delegates of the PGC as mandated by the branch, at the AGM was:
• Luchulumanco Nanto
• Nomzamo Madalane
• Anele Gebenga
• Sithathi Doda
• Anele Gladile
• Salma Suileman
• Asthandile Madushela

The PGC distorted for close to an hour after the presiding officer refused to listen to the CPT branch after he announced that the Mowbray branch alongside the CPT is not recognised.
A political lecture was later on given by Cde Matiwane and thereafter close to an hour and the Organisational Report which was given by Cde Joja commenced both reports where adopted without any rejection.

A motion of no confidence was later on passed on the PEC and the PEC is now under administration.
The PGC concluded at 01:10 this morning.

SASCO CAPE TOWN STATEMENT ON THE STATE OF CPUT Vol 2

Lest we forget the saying “a bird does not destroy its own nest.”

In Volume 1 we covered quite a number of issues ranging from the absence of the LSRC to the unruly behaviour of the LSRC Chairperson to the behavior of CPUT management alongside its staff members.

In volume two we will stick to the burning issue which is the campus shutdown for two days (Friday, 25 August and Monday, 28 August 2017). In the past week we witnessed our campus come to a standstill as a result of a protest organised by PASMA and EFFSC collectively, which they later went on to deny. This protest was rooted in enforcing an exception to the institutions residence policy which states that any student with an intention to be admitted to any CPUT residence should not be residing within a 60 kilometer radius from the institution and that they need to pass at least 65% of their modules.

Initially, on Friday, we witnessed the Admin Building being closed down as a result of the protest which was later extended to the closing of classes with the enforcement of fire extinguishers.

As SASCO, we condemn the violent acts that the two parties showed during the protest. We can never applaud the act that was portrayed by some leaders. Many students were taken out of classes and exam venues with the use of fire extinguishers. This could have led to serious health complications for many students and that we cannot shy away from. Today we also noticed the acts of trying to shut down the campus which led to turning the campus into a war zone where a lot of students were at harm’s way as private securities were shooting their guns and stunt grenades on defense of the stones thrown by these students.

As SASCO we placed students at EWR, Cape Suits and NMJ in the past 3 weeks and we did this without disrupting any academic or admin activity. This is something we believe the two parties could have also executed without having the campus on a standstill. It is worth mentioning that all the students we placed at these residences were placed by force and not mutual agreement with the management. The management was forced to accept the situation as it could not just remove those students without having alternative accommodation measures in place.

We informed the management that we are placing students because there were vacant spaces and we are placing students in those spaces. This is something we believe the two parties could have been done instead of violent strikes. Above our differences in policies and beliefs, the placement should be done for the general students of CPUT.

As stated previously in our Volume 1 statement, as SASCO we do not endorse any victimisation of students by the institution. We have witnessed on numerous occasions, students being victimised by the institution for standing their ground and advocating for the liberation of all students, more especially the total liberation of African students. The system has acted in a way that seeks to silence student leaders and ensures that they are hesitant to fully execute their duties as student leaders and thus operate on a “yes mam, no mam” basis.

As SASCO we are still pro saving our institution from all that has been happening however, we would like to correct the rumor that has been going around saying that it's the #SaveOurInstitution campaign that led to the suspension of the Cape Town LSRC Chairperson and the three other students. We have never called upon the suspension of any student in our campaign. We believe that there are many ways to discipline someone (as stated in the rule book) other than suspension. Secondly, if students are to closely look at the suspension letter of the suspended students, no member from SASCO laid a complaint against the LSRC Chairperson nor did any member stand as a witness to the charge. The case was laid by the Acting VC and all witnesses are Executive Management members and not someone from SASCO.

We also note the victimization of our members by PASMA members that claim that SASCO is the brains behind the suspensions. As SASCO we do not take it lightly that some of our members are being harassed and falsely accused for wrongs that they had nothing to do with. We have also had numerous SRC deployees and members in the past suspended for one reason or another and collectively we have been able to fight those suspensions without causing disruptions in the institution. We fought for the proper procedures to be followed by the institution.

Will continue to call upon saving our institution from corruption. Saving it from no transparency. Saving it from lack of accountability. Saving it from lack of administration. Saving it from the lack of university academic programs. Saving it from populism.

As SASCO we seek to champion the interests of students and not just SASCO members. We seek to ensure access and success in this institution.

Issued by:

Luchulumanco Nanto
Branch Secretary
062 685 4615

Nomzamo Madalane
Branch Chairperson
076 565 5284