How grassroots politics won over struggle citadel Fort Hare
ANC student leaders had the backing of political royalty, with bigwigs such as Cyril Ramaphosa and Malusi Gigaba flying in to boost their campaign.
But in the end, plain hard work helped the DA’s student leaders snatch victory in elections at the University of Fort Hare, unseating the ANCaligned South African Students’ Congress.
The defeat of Sasco has sent ripples through the upper echelons of the ruling party.
For Fort Hare is an institution boasting alumni that include prominent ANC leaders such as Govan Mbeki and Oliver Tambo.
The upstarts — led by new student representative council president Busisiwe Mashiqa, a 28-year-old honours student — have been contesting the elections on campus for only three years and went from just 12.3% of the vote two years ago to a victory of 52%.
Sasco leaders at the Alice, Eastern Cape, campus, including outgoing SRC president Aphiwe Mkhangelwa, could not be reached, but Sasco’s provincial secretary, Yanga Zicina, a student at Fort Hare, said: “Losing Fort Hare is a big blow and I would largely attribute it to the issues we had with management around NSFAS [the National Student Financial Aid Scheme] and residences.
“I will admit we did get complacent and were outsmarted.”
Sasco’s defeat suggests a shift in the politics of young black South Africans.
DA Youth president Yusuf Cassim said: “This victory is significant as it has shown that young black South Africans from mainly working-class backgrounds have shown their bravery in shifting from the politics of loyalty and history and have put their faith in the DA as the new vanguard movement representing their plight.”
Students at the Alice campus this week said they had been won over by a DA leadership on campus that “spoke their language”, understood their challenges and acted in their best interests.
As the academic year started, the DA’s student leaders were on campus, visible, listening to students, advising them about the basics — how to get registered, how to get to class, how to apply for funding, where to find a place to sleep.
They targeted first-year students, leaving an impression.
Lisakhanya Gasa, 19, a business and industrial management student, said: “I was a walk-in and things did not look good because I had not applied. But when they saw my marks they said they would fight to ensure I get space in the course, as it was not full. So, I feel like I’m here because of them.
“What I know about Sasco is that you will get things through knowing people. There are firstyear students who have single rooms, which are normally reserved for third-years and postgrad students.”
At the beginning of the year, Zukhanye Nkatha, 18, travelled nearly 210km from Tsomo, across the Kei, to Alice, to begin her Bachelor of Education degree. University was new and intimidating.
“There were these people from Daso [DA Student Organisation] helping us throughout every step. I remember that even when I did not get accommodated on campus they helped me with contacts to find a room to rent off-campus.
“They even gave me advice on how to get by here.”
Students this week blamed Sasco for not fighting hard enough on issues that mattered most. The appalling state of residences is but one of these.
When students arrived in January to find that fees for some residences had increased to R10 000 a year despite the dilapidated state they are in, they were angry.
The shortcomings of the NSFAS were raised by ANC heavyweights Gwede Mantashe and others during their visits to Fort Hare in the run-up to the elections. Promises were made, but nothing changed, students said.
Zicina said Sasco would continue to fight for students’ rights and amenities.
Cassim and Eastern Cape DA MP Nqaba Bhanga spent up to two weeks, at times sleeping on mattresses in the rundown student centre, working with their student leaders on campus.
Mashiqa said that although Sasco had big-name ANC leaders on campus to campaign for it, they made little impact. “Students, including myself, went there expecting to hear Ramaphosa speak about NSFAS problems and things affecting us, but he just spoke about the Freedom Charter and gave us a brief promise to intervene in our issues. We didn’t want that.
“We went straight to students’ rooms to hear them out. When we invited our parliamentary leaders, we made sure they went into residences to see what it is like and to engage with students,” said Mashiqa. “The question is, if you have this political capital, why don’t you go to that minister or the deputy president to tell them what we need as students?”
It is ironic that as Fort Hare prepares for its centenary celebrations next year, it will be the DA’s SRC that will welcome dignitaries — many of them ANC struggle heroes.