The incoming University of Botswana Graduate Students Association (GSA), Reverend Thuso Tiego, says his one-year tenure in office will be anchored on dignity, honesty and the will to deliver on promises made.
To achieve such, Rev Tiego said together with his team he would hit the ground running to develop a strategic plan that would guide his path for the next 12 months. Rev Tiego was speaking at the 2020/2021 GSA handing over ceremony held at the Student Centre on July 6. 2020.
He observed that the envisaged strategy would also help to create a clear path for those who would take over at the end of his term. Rev Tiego thanked the student body for believing in and entrusting him with the responsibility of leading them. He added that he was coming back into student politics a mature person amenable to open and honest dialogue in resolving issues.
Rev Tiego explained that the time for student strikes was past. Instead, he promised to work together with his team and other stakeholders to make the UB School of Graduate Studies the school of choice in the country and beyond. Consequently, he said given the promissory note he pledged to students during campaigns for office, he would waste no time engaging in strikes or making empty promises because the time to deliver was nigh. “I come with in peace and with peace,” said Rev Tiego.
The incoming chairman said UB must operate like a business and look at its students as clients. Therefore, UB must position itself as the institution of choice given it was now operating in a highly competitive environment unlike before when it was the only university in the country, observed Rev Tiego. He expressed hope that management would also play its part to complement the GSA’s efforts towards transforming the University of Botswana into the best institution of higher learning in the country.
Earlier on, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Mrs Motsei Rapelana, thanked the outgoing committee for a job well done. Mrs Rapelana said she trusted that members of the outgoing committee had learnt new and critical leaderships skills, which she reckoned would become handy in their next vocation. She impressed upon the new office bearers the importance of working harmoniously with UB management in that the GSA was a critical component in the governance structure of the university.
“I therefore implore you to attend meetings of all statutory bodies in which you are allowed representation. It is in these meetings that you make UB leadership aware of your challenges,” noted Mrs Rapelana. She advised the new GSA leadership to ensure that graduate students were represented in departments where their areas of specialisation were housed.
Mrs Rapelana further advised the new GSA leadership to be in the forefront to ensure that all critical COVID-19 health protocols were observed on campus. “Regrettably, you are taking office at a difficult time when the world is facing the coronavirus pandemic but…sometimes strong leaders emerge during a crisis when difficult decisions have to be made,” reckoned Mrs Rapelana.
Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Professor Agreement Jotia, also impressed upon the new GSA leadership the importance of delivery. Professor Jotia also advised them that they should, among others, foster social justice instead of always instigating student unrests because that would render them irrelevant. He encouraged Rev Tiego to lead by example and to resolve matters in an amicable way. In addition, he urged him to be principled and uphold integrity hence deliver as expected of a leader.
Outgoing GSA Chairman, Mr Thuso Molefhe, called for the recognition of the GSA in the UB governing statutes. Mr Molefhe said some of the challenges they identified during their tenure ranged from shortage of student accommodation, timing of programmes to accommodate their schedule as workers to inadequate funds to run the association.
Giving a vote of thanks, Block 417 Warden, Dr Moren Stone, called on the new GSA leadership to engage UB management to review some courses so that what was offered was relevant. Dr Stone also said the GSA should further engage management on accommodation offered to graduate students to make sure it was commensurate with their status. He urged the GSA leadership to make its voice heard and embark on a drive for more funding to be channeled towards graduate studies as UB transforms from an undergraduate to a research intensive institutions.