[The following is a critical analysis of #TuksRiggedElections by Tebogo Winston Mogoru]
I must first concede that this was a difficult piece to think of and write because in the midst of events and as they were unfolding, one needed to circumscribe the scope of manifestations and circumvent any prognostication of what may come, this piece is both a critic and in-depth analysis of power and the interplay thereof between university management and the student body being represented by the student front (SASCO, AFRIFORUM & EFFSC_UP).
The panoptic is an architectural design of a prison never built. It is not what is that counts, but it is what is thought that is the world. A prison concept it remains, materially it doesn't exist, but the gaze informs this analysis of the #TuksRiggedElections.
September 1st 2015, was election day at the said university. A student representative council was to yield from this democratic process. Days leading up to the election had campus abuzz. An explosion of difference from race, opinion and political affiliation was what it was. Student activism was to be reincarnated or rejuvenated as it never died, but was stifled and read on to found why and how. Upon hearing the news that the election had been rigged led one to deeply reflect and unpack the taken for granted notions of power that this very university practiced, but were never obvious as they were subtle. Nothing is more powerful than soft power as it caresses you whilst controlling you. You are being controlled, but you know it not. Bewildered in my disbelief my once apathetic self took a surreptitious look (side-eye) at the state of affairs...In reflections on the colonial state by John Comaroff one finds a quote and in part that very quote unpacks both the capabilities and affect these subtle forms of power wield. "he was stripped and put in a cell with a stone floor and no glass in the window... He said in his letter that I was not the cold that bothered him, it was being watched all the time. The eye in the door ... an elaborately painted eye [inside the cell]..., was deeply disturbing... 'S not so bad so long as it stays in the door. You start worrying when it gets in [your head]". Pat Baker wrote this in The eye in the door, pg 36.
Let us negate the effects of the architecture on the individual and look at the psychological effects that the prison affects the individual and the analysis will unfold subsequently. 'being watched all the time' are we though or the eye is already in our heads? As election day drew nearer, anticipation and oddity were concomitant in what I came to observe. The drawing closer of the elections was equal to the mushrooming in numbers of reflective vests and security radios. Was this to ensure that the elections were safe or was this an apartheid like display of power? From election day, followed by days of alleging that the election was rigged the number of vests and big-bellied security personnel doubled if I'm being nice, but I think triple the number would be accurate. Every entry point on campus had at least two to three guards. The exponential growth was as a resultant of the protests on campus, first of its kind, in that the student front was in the front. Adversaries are what these political organization's are on a normal day, but not on that particular day (university publication perdeby reports this to be on the 3rd of September 2015), the political rivalry between all three took a well deserved leave as the three joined hands.
What stands out for me though, as I find the coalition of the three as long overdue, is that you have a claim that is articulated through protest that the election was rigged and the response before any other that is formal was the doubling up of security personnel. The protests were peaceful and some individuals found themselves locked in certain buildings as a result of their none participation. #TuksRiggedElections had gained momentum and this was beginning to show in instances where a protest which is an articulation of difference in opinion and discontent was an equivalent of a state of emergency, did you see the no. of security guards. Call me odd, but this highlighted reactions only a conservative would exude and this university is very conservative of which it needs to be challenged and called out in doing so.
In moving back to the eye that we're still trying to figure out where it is at, I feel it is already in the mind and the actions that follow can serve as cues that instill the notion that you're being watched. This is what stifles debate at the said university. Video footage was being taken as the protests went on. Odd I found that occurrence to be. As every corner and perimeter on campus has a security camera, can't footage be taken from these and access there. Were the hand held cameras that were now at the level of the individual a reminder that you're being watched and participation no matter how you feel about a certain issue is at your own peril. Foucault's idea of governmentality dawned on me. What is the mentality of governance at Tuks made of?
What this idea implies is that within states and institutes of higher learning as a microcosm of broader society is organized in such a way that a monopoly of knowledge as well as the means of force are concentrated in the hands of the governor (University of Pretoria management). Such a concentration is indicative of a shift from direct discipline to self-regulation. Remember the hand held camera that served as a reminder? What I mean by this is that during the protests or moments leading up to the power play between the power holders and claimants, you had a fraction of the latter group fragmented and deterred even before engagement. This makes it impossible to organize and you end up rubbing up the wrong way potential participants by locking some of them in libraries, humanities building and the client services centre just to mention a few. What gets cited as the reason for retraction by students or non-participation is that there exists a prospect of being expelled or better yet being victimized in isolation from the collective. A measure that ensures that the student body is both docile and fragmented in terms of opinion and the convergence of ideas.
When you think of it, it actually works and effectively so for the university, conversely to the detriment of the student organizations (divide and conquer if you may). The irony of our time I call it (democracy = apartheid). However, this phenomenon should not be viewed in isolation and it be assumed that only student political organizations take preference. It is if you look at it closely it is all around campus.
The claim made by the student front #TuksRiggedElections is not a cry that yields from lost seats in the election race, but a claim made in light of the allegation that the election was rigged and the student front operating in concert are willing and as a matter of fact have furnished the necessary evidence. So for clarity's sake, the claim is against a process that is deemed to be just was tempered with to yield unjust results as a consequence. A conundrum if you ask me what this is. The dilemma I face is here and probably most of you share this sentiment, free and fair elections is what the chapter 9 institution, the Independent Electoral Commission upholds, but if an election is to be rigged under the auspices of the said institution in facilitating the 2015 SRC elections at the University of Pretoria is basically spitting on the very democracy we espouse as a country. Because what was the point of even having elections if the predetermined result was to come from undermining the very processes that everyone within the confines of the university must subscribe?
And the thinking continues
By Tebogo Winston Mogoru
By Tebogo Winston Mogoru
