UB SRC election takeover
University of Botswana management has taken over the conduct of the Student Representative Council (SRC) elections.
The school leadership warned in an internal memorandum that if the SRC failed to hold the elections by end of March, then Management would conduct them as per the SRC constitution.
An anonymous source at UB said that the University of Botswana Academic and Support Staff Union (UBASSU) is influencing the university management to take over elections so that it may use students to fight their battles.
It is believed that unions within the institution want to sabotage the day to day running of the institution by placing representatives which they can control to cause strikes within the institution with their end game being to oust Vice Chancellor David Norris. UBASSU President Professor Motsumi Marobela has refuted the allegations, dismissing them as “utter rubbish.” He said these are just allegations meant to spoil the good work that they are doing within the institution. Marobela revealed that UBASSU stands in solidarity with students and believe that students are entitled to run elections for themselves without the involvement of management.
He said that the current state of the SRC whereby it has only three members, works in favour of the UB management as there was no effective body that stands for the concerns of the students.
Marobela said that even their union is preparing for the next phase of strikes which will commence in the coming examinations period. He said that they are firm in demanding what they want as they have not seen a salary increase in the last six years.
He said the tactics used by the institution such as reducing salaries of some of the union members does not scare them. A UB student said that the UB management has taken over the election through an amendment in the constitution that the student community does not know.
They note that this is a new development which they are not happy with and are even contemplating legal action to wrestle students’ power and autonomy from the university management.
UB had not responded to the questions sent to them at the time of publication.