University freshers, beware madala students

The last time I updated this blog I promised to be back shortly with another instalment that would solely deal with age-old traditions of recycling and saving energy thereby saving the planet. However, in between following discussions at the COP17 and enjoying the festive fun, I never got around doing that.

So, in the spirit of continuity and being “relevant” or “moving with the times”, let us rather discuss things normally associated with January. While traditionally we were made to believe that January is a month when most people are broke, there are many other activities – good or bad – that are synonymous with January.

The death of a mother who was trampled by desperate students who were trying to register at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has even heightened the spotlight on this very first month of the year.

For me, January is a good month because I was born on the fifth and always use my birthday to plan ahead for the year. It is no secret that not everything that I set out to do every year pans out as I envisage but at least this pattern of doing things has helped me a great deal. If it wasn’t for that, I probably would not have bought that new bed or saved for a holiday.

I must say that the chaotic happenings at UJ shocked me not only because someone lost a life but because the same shambles reigned supreme last year as well. What could be the root cause of this?

During my days as a student at the then Technikon Pretoria (now Tshwane University of Technology), we didn’t have such troubles. Prospective first year students had to apply a year in advance and go through a rigorous selection process that included a psychometric test and interview. January was all about smiling in front of a camera before some ancient machine coughs out your student card on the other side. That was it and then classes would resume. And I must emphasise that these classes were mostly – even though officially it as supposed to be 50/50 – conducted in Afrikaans. Even IsiZulu and English lessons were taught in Afrikaans, well by Afrikaans-speaking lecturers.

My favourite part within this January mayhem was when we would invade and “own” the campus bar with the help of some of my “well-off” classmates. The trick was that we had all applied for state student loans through Tertiary Education Fund of South Africa (TEFSA), including those whose parents could afford. So the parents didn’t know about this and when they give some of my friends the registration fee in January, we would be instantly rich and do as we please. Only when we started working and TEFSA garnished us that we realise who was clever back then.

Also, when we became senior students, we were always enjoying the advantage we had over junior or new students. The common term was “Mafresher”. It is always easy to spot one with either a brown envelope or see-through flip file and that look on their face. How we “welcomed” them to the campus is a discussion for another day.

Freshers, beware of campus oldies.