By Emma Giles, Nicola Reyneke, Azile Kraziya and Akhona Ngxikwe
“The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) display in the Neelsie still shows the 2022/23 council and the SRC section of the university website is buried deep enough that most students never find it,” said Ethan Epstein-Kay, a 2026/2027 SRC generally elected member. As the 2025/2026 SRC hands over to the incoming SRC at the start of the fourth term, students reflect on the accountability failures and strategies of student leadership at Stellenbosch University (SU).
Oversight of outgoing SRC
Calls for stronger accountability and oversight of student leaders dominated the student plenary sitting on 31 July. This was the final sitting with the 2025/2026 SRC in their acting capacity.
The plenary sitting addressed shortcomings within the out-going SRC while students questioned whether existing mechanisms adequately hold repre-sentatives accountable.
The Student Parliament Speaker Solomozi Mphambo, announced that two SRC members were not present to address the agenda points assigned to them. “If the person responsible for an agenda item is not present, we skip that item and return to it once they are here,” said Lihle Baleka, a third-year Dip (Sustainable Development) student. Members present at the sitting agreed to skip Ben Anderson and Katlego Matale’s agenda points.
Questions of accountability continued when Mphambo read a prompt concerning the communication of student funding opportunities, directed at 2025/2026 SRC Treasurer General Sinawo Sangovana.
The prompt alleged that bursary opportunities had been distributed through Sangovana’s personal WhatsApp status and smaller groups in April, rather than using the SRC’s official communication platforms. Mphambo read from the prompt that this had limited access for students without “proximity to the Treasurer” and that a similar incident had occurred previously in May.
Sangovana acknowledged that official SRC communication channels had not been used as effectively. “At that time it was the fastest way of communicating and I take accountability that it may not have been the best method, but I tried to help the students as best I [could],” Sangovana said
Newly elected SRC member for 2026/2027 Kouthaar Cupido challenged his responses, question-ing what concrete changes would be made rather than simply acknowledging that a mistake had been made. Cupido asked Sangovana, “What are you going to do to change that?”
Many of the members raised concerns about what accountability and transformation would look like for the incoming 2026/2027 SRC. Sangovana said that detailed handover reports is one measure to prevent similar shortcomings in the incoming SRC. “The measures are to make sure the handover reports are very detailed in terms of the shortcomings I have encountered and also the highlights,” he said,
Senkosi Nuku, the 2025/2026 Vice-Chairperson of the Societies Council, questioned what concrete measures would follow Sangovana’s acknowledgement. “What exactly are the measures that you have put in place so the next SRC doesn’t stand in front of us and tell us that they have taken accountability?” Nuku asked.
Incoming SRC strategies
Die Matie asked the incoming SRC of 2026/2027 how they plan to address the concerns of student leader accountability raised at the most recent sitting.
For Epstein-Kay, “accountability begins with students knowing who their SRC is” and often “only arrives at the end of a term, when it is too late to change anything”.
“I would establish and sup-port initiatives such as the ‘#Whatarethe-issues?’ campaign and work collaboratively with a variety of student leadership structures across campus on campaigns that are by students, for students,” said Tshianeo Mudau, another 2026/2027 generally elected member. “I will engage institutional bodies where the SRC has representation (seats) so that we can propose ideas and solutions that genuinely advance student interests,” he said.
Epstein-Kay’s practical solution involves getting an “SRC website up and running” which will list “every elected and ex officio member by name and photograph, the portfolio each of us holds, and what we have said we intend to do in it”, he said.
Jada van Nieuwenhuizen, the 2026/2027 generally elected member who received the highest num-ber of votes, said “A big part of accountability is getting more students engaged in student gover-nance, which means we cannot simply wait for students to come to us.”
“I want to listen before reacting and treat genuine shortcomings as feedback that helps us correct course and improve,” she said.
