Establishing mechanisms for the eradication of graduate debt will be at the core of the incoming WSU Convocation Executive Committee’s (Convex) activities during their 2022 to 2025 tenure.
Following their deployment to the helm of the WSU alumni body in June 2022, new ConvEx President Dr Lunga Mantashe and his constituents are resolute to strengthening WSU graduates’ employability through ensuring that graduates obtain their graduation certificates.
Furthermore, Mantashe asserted that as the ConvEx, they aim to undertake rigorous fund-raising models which will also aid in ensuring that graduates get their certificates.
In March 2022, Linda Meyer, director for operations and sector support at Universities South Africa reported that there had been an upsurge in South African graduate debt which saw it move from R14-billion in 2019, to R16.5-billion in 2022.
Thousands of WSU graduates who fall into these statistics remain unemployed; partly due to their qualifications being withheld because of debt owed to institutions of higher education.
Mantashe described the current system where graduates have to first pay their debt before obtaining their qualifications as a no-win situation that hindered chances of getting employment and being able to pay their debt.
“In the era of science and technological evolution, we should resolve the above logical difficulty quite easily. The principle I will support is the development of a system that helps release certificates on one hand, and detects when a graduate gets a job in order to pay back the loan, on the other hand,” said Mantashe.
Initiatives such as seeking support from WSU suppliers towards a graduate debt fund are part of an exhaustive list of initiatives that the ConvEx plans to take up.
“The Convocation Annual General Meeting has called for Convocation to have a separate financial account. This decision is crucial for fundraising purposes in particular, even for direct accountability. It should be added that this account must be used to fundraise to deal with graduate debt. Details will be fleshed out in due course in this regard,” said Mantashe.
Other focus areas of the new ConvEx relate to continuing preserving WSU brand name; introducing a network of mentorship; intellectual and leadership contribution on matters of institutional importance; accreditation, including rationalisation and consolidation being prime examples.
Reflecting on the outgoing ConvEx’s activities, under the leadership of advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Mantashe said: “The previous leadership elevated the status of WSU Convocation in significant ways, taking from the era of Mr Zincedile Tiya who, it must be admitted, helped build the structure between 2016 and 2019, making it interesting for all of us.”
Mantashe asserted that theirs as the new ConvEx was to take over and build up on the work that has already been done, and all the while pursuing the university’s new vision and mission.
“I want to see WSU becoming an intellectual space in pursuit of truth as it also inhabits and yet pursues excellence. A space free to engage in the concrete meaning of being an African university that is impactful and technology infused at the levels of knowledge production, re-contextualisation, and pedagogy – and a university that distinguishes itself as a fundamental contributor in the building of this country through specific research niche areas in this relation,” he concluded.
Mantashe is joined at the helm of the body by Sandiso Mbongo as Deputy President, Sithembiso Cekiso as treasurer; with Meshack Mugabe, Melikhaya Sihawu, Siphiwo Vusani, and Azola Mzwendaba as additional members.
By Yanga Ziwele
