STUDENTS MUST LEARN TO HELP THEMSELVES

INDEPENDENT-ON-SATURDAY 24 April 1999

Would it not be a wonderful exercise, with the University ofDurban-Westville (UDW) pioneering it, for historically black institutions' student presentative councils (SRCs) to embark on a student fund-raising drive in the private sector?
Quite frankly one could not argue for a student fund-raising drive without any deeper and well-informed analysis of problems prevalent in historically black institutions (HBIs).
As a vocal student in the student governance structures, I cannot but understand it better.

Having been a student at the University of Durban-Westville for some time, it really pains one that each year one will be part of the student population at loggerheads with university authorities.
The previously underfunded institutions' student protests about fees as this does not only disrupt the academic programme but further tarnish the image of the institutions to potential private sector funders and the outside world.
It becomes even worse when such protest is characterised by intimidation of other segments of the student population and vandalism of property.
As each one of us is a partner in education, what role do students have to play through their respective SRCs?
Through the Tertiary ducation Fund of South Africa (TEFSA), the government has partially played its role, parents with their meagre salaries have taken s all the way to tertiary level.
We, as students, must stop lamenting the country's high

"Students must learn to help themselves. Poor students at tertiary institutions should be innovative in their search for solutions", suggests NKONZO MQADI

unemployment rate affecting our parents.
As a gesture of goodwill, let us meet our parents, the Government and university authorities half way.
Would it not be good to put into place a networking process with the outside world for our tertiary fund-raising?
While most people would agree with the institutions of higher learning that they could not afford to register students free of charge, what measures are being taken by the student population to ensure that fees are paid?
Stu­dents seem to be re-active in their approach towards addressing the question of tertiary education funding. The State funding through TEFSA has its own shortcoming because it only caters for academically successful students, who have some form of income at home.
To develop every aspect of students' need, our SRCs must convince all stakeholders in education that despite the odds militating against the attainment of higher education, the youth is very much committed to education.
SRCs as responsible leaders should go an extra mile in catering for the people who voted them into office. As future leaders of this country, SRCs must stop laying the blame with the Government and tertiary institutions' authorities.
In this representative democracy students, students as a vibrant constituency, should mandate the respective SRCs to galvanise all forces towards students' total development.
As a principle, HBIs' SRCs should adopt a pro­gramme of action which statels that, as we enter the next millennium, there will be no more academic disruptions pertaining to financial exclusions at the institutions.
It should be clear to every student that university authorities are the least interested in the personal development of the poor black student.
Let us, as a collective, push our intransigent management into a corner.
To realise this, SRCs have to act in concert with the respective convocations. Through the various bodies that fall under their auspices, SRCs must be used for fund-raising purposes. Through these, students could establish fheir own self-help projects. HBIs' SRCs should start by organising dinners and/or balls at least three times a year, inviting prominent speakers to deliver speech­es about topical events.
Preferably, such speak­ers should be alma-maters of that institution.Tickets for such balls must be sold to the individuals as well as to corporations, with proceeds going to the SRCs' funds.

As a classic example, UDW, in particular, has its graduates occupying strategic positions in Government institutions and conglomerates.
UDW can invite Cabinet Ministers such as Mr Vali Moosa, Mr Jay Naidoo, Constitutional Court Judge Zac Yacoob, ANC Youth League president Mr Malusi Gigaba, National Youth Commission chairperson Miss Mahlengi Bhengu - the list of eminent people from this campus is endless.

SRCs need to remind these role models about the idea behind the fund-raising exercise. No appearance fees should be charged - it must come from the goodness of their hearts, giving back to the university community that contrib­uted to what they are today.

University communities, you will bear my ignorance of the Universities Act. One does not agitate that SRCs must act ultra vires in bypassing the institutions' public affairs departments, whose specific function is to market the institutions to the outside world.
If students are committed to the paramount objective of acquiring a proper education without any academic disruptions, these proposals merit some critical digestion. The SRCs and the convocation can take the initiat­ive and reduce the level of conflict at the respective institutions of higher learning.

Mr Nkonzo Mqadi is a political science graduate and a final-year LLB student.