SRC earnings in question

Details

Published on Wednesday, 12 October 2011 10:11

Written by Pasqua Heard

With the introduction of the new SRC, the benefits members receive have come to the attention of several people. Each member of the SRC can receive a total of R6 428 for their seven month period in office if their duties
are fulfilled.

The SRC Achievement Awards originally started in 2004 under the name of the SRC Incentive Plan. This involves rewarding the members R918 per month, dependent on them fulfilling their duties.

There are five criteria that the members need to meet to receive their full R918 for the month. The members are required to list the criteria that they have or have not met at the end of each month.

This is assessed by an evaluation team who interview each of the candidates on their performance. The members lose R306 for each criterion they do not meet. The stipends of members who resign are shared amongst the remaining SRC members.

The funding for the SRC Achievement Awards is provided by the Executive Director: Department of Student Affairs budget.

"The SRC stipends assists the SRC in holding members accountable ... it encourages, in my view, a stronger work ethic but, more importantly, it goes some way in compensating members for some of the expenses from personal funds members incur whilst serving the student body," said Jerome September, Manager of Student Development.

Amanda Ngwenya, 2011 SRC President, said that, "Students should not hold the SRC to account because the SRC gets paid. The amount paid is negligible and not in any way proportionate with the work that gets put in by those who do their job. The SRC has the privilege of being able to speak on behalf of students. That is the primary reason for holding the
SRC accountable."

Some students are concerned about the student body being unaware that SRC members receive payment. "Students often don’t care about SRC elections but they should since the SRC are quite literally paid by the students to provide a service," said a member of a UCT council, who chose to remain anonymous.

"Had students known about this, they would be more encouraged to participate in the election process," the source continued.