Work starts for 2011/12 SRC

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Published on Wednesday, 12 October 2011 19:35

Written by Olivia Wainwright

On Saturday 24 September the results of the 2012 Student Representative Council (SRC) elections were released.

On Friday 30 September a meeting was held to allocate portfolios for the new SRC. The 2012 SRC has two portfolios more than previous years; the total number of members has been increased from 15 to 17.

The portfolio designation meeting was chaired by Jacques Rousseau of the SRC Elections Committee. Within two hours, each member had been nominated for a particular portfolio. Members of the new SRC were watched eagerly by members of the outgoing SRC.

Before the portfolios were allocated, meetings were set up between the different parties to decide how they would vote. The eight independent candidates met to discuss how they could create the ideal SRC model. With eight independents, they had the voting power to attain their ideal SRC. However, at the last minute, one of the independents decided to align themselves with SASCO.

Consequently, five out of eight of the executive positions were taken by SASCO. Included in these positions were President, which went to Insaaf Isaacs, and Vice-President External, which was taken by Mike Ramothwala.

In response to the meeting, Amanda Ngwenya, outgoing President of the SRC, said, “My strong feeling is that the most skilled candidates are in the non-executive positions and that the new members haven’t been put into the portfolios they would best fit into.”

However, new President Isaacs said, “Whilst many students think we vote on political lines, I believe we voted people into the portfolios that best suited them. SRC 2012 will be able to stand as a collective, achieve a lot, and transparently justify our decisions.”

The newly elected SRC is currently shadowing the 2011 SRC member in their future portfolio. In the coming weeks, each new SRC member is expected to learn the commitments that their portfolio entails, learn important UCT policies, have an understanding of the committees on which they will be sitting and meet key stakeholders. The group will take on their full responsibilities as SRC 2012 from 1 November this year.