28 June 2021
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Story Nonsindiso Qwabe
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Photo Supplied
Qwaqwa SRC President for 2020/2021, Sifiso Mofokeng
No student who has registered should ever have to stop along the way because of financial difficulties, but they should go all the way to graduation. This is the firm belief anchoring newly appointed SRC President for the Qwaqwa Campus, Sifiso Mofokeng, and his entire committee, for the duration of their term. The 2020/2021 committee took up office in April, and Mofokeng said they were adamant to meet student demands and address issues pertaining to student service delivery, even under COVID-19 constraints.
Mofokeng said the lockdown brought a lot of discouragement, but he and his team were excited about the opportunity to serve the student community and to leave behind what he hopes would be lasting transformation on the
Qwaqwa Campus. “We have big dreams and ideas that we hope to achieve during our time in office,” he said.
Currently in his final year of a Bachelor of Administration degree majoring in Industrial Psychology and Public Administration, Mofokeng said for him, student activism was triggered by his own struggles with funding for his studies. He has grown from in-party student leadership in his first year, until he decided to serve the broader student community by running for president.
The most pressing issues for Mofokeng are the accommodation and transport woes that Qwaqwa students are currently facing.
“Students in Qwaqwa need accommodation, and because on-campus accommodation isn’t enough to cater for all students, most of them rely on private accommodation that is being built anyhow, which affects the accommodation allowance. Transport is also a serious problem, and we hope to see some transformation happening there too,” he said.
How else does transformation look like for Mofokeng? He said it included digitising education and making online learning more conducive to students from rural areas, sourcing food provisions for needy students, and lobbying for more structural development on the campus. “We have to be realistic; with COVID-19, some of the things we want to achieve are far-fetched, but nonetheless, we are hoping that things will get better. While we wait for that, we want to meet the students’ needs as much as possible.”