The first term of 2018 was busy for the Vice-President’s office. We were faced with three main tasks that were expected from our office. These tasks were SRC Objectives and Year Plans which stated the Objectives of all the 15 SRC members for 2018. The second task was convening of Student Parliament with the intention of electing The Speaker, Deputy Speake and Secretary of Student Parliament. The last task, which is still ongoing is that of cluster meetings. All these points shall be explained further.
SRC Objectives and Year Plans 2018
In February 2018, I asked all the SRC members to think about their objectives and year plans for 2018. I then requested that they compile documents to this effect and email them to me for a draft document. This document had to set out what the Councillors wanted to do, the timeline they expected to have done these activities by. The aim was for the document to be as clear as possible. After many drafts, a document was finally compiled by March and this document was also presented at Student Services Council. Therefore, the compilation of this document was a success and important to note is that this document is open to all students so as to know what the SRC plans on doing this year.
Student Parliament Convening
On the 26th of February 2018 at 18: 30pm, the Vice-presidents’ office convened the first sitting of student parliament as per article 7 of the Constitution of Students. This Article 7.3.1 says that, In February, the Student Representative Council (SRC) Vice-President shall call a sitting of Student Parliament at a predetermined time and place. This meeting quorated and as such the meeting was held in the Council Chambers. The members of student parliament got a chance to nominate and vote for the Speaker, deputy- Speaker and Secretary. With the help of the IEB, free and fair elections took place and the results were as follows: Speaker is now Mr Graham Maruta; DeputySpeaker: Ms Neo Mohlala and Secretary is Mr Reggie Goba. The running of student parliament is now in their hands and no longer done by the SRC.
The second term was not as busy as the first term. For the VP’s office this term was mainly busy because of committee meetings that I had to sit on. They were also cluster meetings held with other council members to assess their progress in achieving their termly/semester goals. These meetings were poorly attended and hopefully the next meetings will see improvement. Otherwise, they were effective meetings and they were constructive on reflecting on successes and failures of the first semester. Further meetings will be held to map a way forward as the Council. Furthermore, the significant part of term 2 was starting to work on the reviewing of the Constitution of the Students with the other Council members. This is an on-going process that should be completed in third term. Generally, first semester was a good semester and productive semester for the VP’s office.