UCT SRC spends R100,000 on Koko and Mpofu conference

May 3, 2024 Vaseline stjohnson 0

The Student Representative Council (SRC) led by the UCT EFF Student Command is alleged to have circumvented standard procedures to authorize more than R100,000 at the invitation of former Eskom acting chief executive Matshela Koko and legal lawyer Dali Mpofu SC.

The money was spent on flights, accommodation and catering.

Last month, the pair visited UCT as part of the SRC’s public lecture series, where they discussed “The Obstacles of the Zondo Commission” as a topic.

The DA Students Organization (Daso) states that for such funding to be approved, the SRC must first meet, discuss and, if there are disagreements, vote before a budget is approved. The UCT SRC is made up of a South African Students Congress (Sasco), two Daos and 10 members of the EFF Student Command (EFFSC).

Correspondence between some SRC members and the SRC Student Advocacy Coordinator viewed by Daily Maverick shows that the coordinator was not aware that the full SRS did not meet to approve the funding.

“In terms of approval, I was informed by the SRC Chair that the event was an SRC event and had been approved by the SRC along with the associated costs. “I have very much welcomed the formation of the SRC finance committee as they will need to approve all future costs and I will only approve this once they have approved the budget requests,” the correspondence reads.

The EFFSC could still have used its majority to push through the budget if a meeting had been held.

“To secure funding for the costs of this event, the SRC presidency fraudulently claimed that the entire SRC had voted in favor of this budget, which was not the case,” said Daso’s Tom Wellz.

“Without a finance committee, full SRC approval was required for all expenditures. Unfortunately, there was no meeting and no correspondence was sent to Sasco and Daso SRC members regarding the approval. This only came to light when an email was sent to the entire student body inviting them to the event.”

Controversial invitation

In November last year, Koko’s corruption case was canceled at the Specialized Commercial Crimes Court in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, for “unreasonable delays” after the NPA’s Investigative Directorate (ID) requested another adjournment.

Read more at Daily Maverick: NPA’s failed Matshela Koko Kusile corruption case raises alarm over leadership’s readiness to prosecute

This was Koko’s second invitation this year to the university. In March, he was invited to speak to a senior engineering class. The university faced criticism over the invitation, prompting acting vice-chancellor Emer Prof. Daya Reddy to provide the context of the invitation.

Reddy said students in a fourth-year course had been tasked with writing an opinion piece on Koko’s tenure as acting chief executive of Eskom, using all information available in the public domain, as part of A case study on ethics and professionalism.

“After completing his assignments, Mr. Koko was invited to address the class and participate in a discussion focused on the topic of his assignment.

“The professor of this course invites about five or six guests each year, often high-level people in the industry or political leaders. This practice is not uncommon in courses located in one or another of the professional degree programs. Furthermore, such engagements provide a space for the contestation of sometimes different ideas and seek to hone students’ ability to reason critically, act ethically, and judge professionally.”

In response to questions, the UCT SRC said they followed all necessary and appropriate steps.

“Given that the EFFSC has the majority within the SRC, we are expected to have a majority vote on many of the decisions made. The decision to invite Matshela Koko and Adv Dali Mpofu was supported by the absolute majority within our structure. The 10 SRC members deployed by the EFFSC approved the event among the 14 SRC members.”

The SRC added that the majority of the funds were invested in catering, benefiting many students who attended the event.

“R88 000 was allocated to the catering service, with the aim of serving more than 600 students. The public lecture event aligns with the SRC’s vision of protecting academic freedom and starting conversations that may be uncomfortable but necessary. “It provided students with a valuable opportunity to interact with different perspectives on issues affecting our country.”

Charges have been filed with the Student Governance Tribunal and Daso is also considering going to the University Students Disciplinary Tribunal. DM

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