SRCs soak up R100m for elections

Certain campuses received major disputes that caused unrest which led to

re-elections

UMFOLOZI TVET Report on SRC election costs

SOUTH African tertiary institutions spent more than R100 million on student representative councils (SRCs) over the past 10 years.

This is according to figures released by Higher Education Minister Naledi Pandor in response to a parliamentary question from the DA’s Belinda Bozzoli who wanted to know the total budget allocated by each university and TVET colleges for SRC elections expenses over the past 10 years and amounts allocated to each candidate or student organisation vying for elections.

She had enquired whether the budgeted allocations had been exceeded and whether election rules had been broken.

Although Pandor did not give the exact amount, she listed the amounts spent by the institutions.

The combined allocations from the institutions showed that a whopping R86 928 974 was allocated to SRC elections at universities and R13 007 651 at TVET colleges during the period under review.

Unisa spent R21 758 404 – the highest amount spent by an institution.

However, some institutions did not have records of expenditure on SRC elections for certain years, an indicator that well over R100m was spent.

Individual candidates or student organisations contesting the elections were allocated up to R25 000 for their electioneering campaigns.

The information showed that Walter Sisulu University followed on the heels of Unisa with R11.5m spent, the University of Fort Hare R6.5m, the University of Pretoria R6.3m, the University of Zululand R4.9m, the University of Johannesburg R4.3m and Limpopo University R4m.

Stellenbosch University spent the least at R119 225 followed by Rhodes University at R151 061 and Sol Plaatjie University R185 000 while other universities spent between R2m and 3m.

Motheo TVET leads the pack among the colleges with R4m on SRC elections followed by King Sabata Dalindyebo R2.1m, Tshwane South R2.1m, Taletso R2m, Western College for TVET R1.8m and Majuba R1.2m.

About 11 colleges such as East Cape Midlands, Ikhala, Central Johannesburg, Goldfields, Maluti, Port Elizabeth, Coastal, Mtashana, Lephalale, Capricorn and Umgungundlovu recorded that they had no allocated budget for SRC elections.

Most institutions reported that there had been no overspending on the SRC elections budget and irregularities. UCT said that in 2012 one of the student organisations contesting elections received external additional funding.

“The electoral committee fined the party concerned for his transgression.”

Durban University of Technology said there had been occasions when budgeted amounts were exceeded.

“In August 2016, a security situation occurred in the Midlands campus.

“Extra security had to be taken to defend the integrity of the elections resulting in additional costs,” reads the report.

University of Venda said the budget was exceeded in 2016 and 2018 when safety and security was provided during the election which had become increasingly confrontational.

Rhodes University reported that a minor incident occurred in 2018 after one candidate purchased T-shirts which were not declared resulting in the deduction of a number of votes from the culprit.

Umfolozi TVET said it exceeded budget due to re-elections when results were displayed at Sundumbili and Isithebe campuses.

“Certain campuses received major disputes that caused unrest which led to re-elections.”

Taletso TVET college said SRC election costs have been low over the years because they used internal staff.