SASCO George Branch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SASCO STATEMENT ON SUCCESSFUL GWIJO WEDNESDAY AND SANITARY PAD DRIVE FOR OUR SISTERS

30 September 2026

SASCO successfully convened our Gwijo Wednesday program today, reaffirming the power of song, struggle, and solidarity as tools of conscientization on campus.

As we raised our voices in revolutionary song, we also addressed a material reality facing our sisters. SASCO led a sanitary pads distribution drive, providing sanitary towels to female students in need.

We hold that access to sanitary products is not a luxury, it is a basic right and a matter of dignity. No sister should miss lectures, tests, or exams because she cannot afford sanitary pads. The capitalist system continues to make our sisters pay a pink tax for being women, while NSFAS delays and the high cost of living crush students.

This is what SASCO is about - not just singing about freedom, but practicing it. Theory without action is dead.

We thank all students who joined the Gwijo, all comrades who contributed, and all our sisters who showed up. The struggle continues until free, decolonized, and dignified education is a reality for all.

We call on university management and the Department of Higher Education to institutionalize the free provision of sanitary products in all bathrooms on campus permanently.

Issued by SASCO

STATEMENT OF THE GEORGE BRANCH ON THE RECONFIGURATION OF THE WESTERN REGION AND APPOINTMENT OF THE REGIONAL TASK TEAM

29 September 2026

The George Branch has noted with serious concern the communication dated 27 September 2026regarding the reconfiguration of the Western Region and the appointment of a Regional Task Team

The George Branch wishes to place it firmly on record that we were neither consulted, engaged nor given an opportunity to make recommendations before this decision was taken and communicated.We therefore object to both the process followed and the manner in which this matter has been presented to the branch.

The George Branch is particularly concerned because we are the SASCO branch situated and operating in the Western Cape yet decisions concerning our organisational space continue to be taken without meaningful engagement with the branch.

This increasingly creates the concern that the George Branch is not being treated as an equal organisational structure with a legitimate voice in matters directly affecting its area.

It is difficult to understand how a structure can be expected to take responsibility for organisational work in an area while being excluded from discussions about the very structures that are supposed to operate there.

If this approach continues, it creates the unfortunate perception that George Branch is expected to remain the organisational “stepchild”expected to implement decisions, mobilise students and carry organisational responsibilities, but apparently not important enough to be consulted before those decisions are made.

We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for equal organisational respect, proper consultation and recognition of the George Branch as a legitimate organisational structure.

Being situated in the Western Cape does not make the George Branch less important, less capable or less entitled to participate in decisions concerning our organisational work.

Our objection is not directed at the individuals whose names appear on the proposed Regional Task Team. Our concern is the process through which these names were arrived at and the complete absence of consultation with the George Branch.

The George Branch therefore rejects the proposed list as presented not because of the identities of the individuals named, but because the branch was not afforded an opportunity to participate in the process.

The George Branch cannot be expected to simply receive a completed list and then be told to cooperate with it, when the branch was never approached during the process of compiling that list.

There is, with respect, something rather strange about requesting the cooperation of branches only after decisions affecting those branches have already been made.

PWC believed that a Regional Task Team was necessary, the appropriate approach would have been to engage the affected structures, explain the purpose and mandate of the proposed RTT, and formally request recommendations

Had recommendations been requested, the George Branch would have been able to consider the matter through its own structures and submit appropriate recommendations.

Instead, the branch was presented with names after the fact.

Consultation cannot simply mean informing a branch of a decision that has already been taken.

It has been some time since SASCO secured electoral victories at Nelson Mandela University. This should provide an opportunity to strengthen organisational structures, deepen branch participation and build a culture of meaningful consultation.

Instead, the George Branch is concerned that decisions are increasingly being taken without adequate engagement with branch leadership.

We are further concerned by reports that some members of the PEC were also not consulted regarding this process.

If even members of the provincial leadership structures are not adequately engaged on matters of this nature, then legitimate questions arise regarding the process through which these decisions are being made.

Political and organisational maturity requires leadership to consult, listen, engage and build organisational consensus
It should not require branches to discover decisions affecting them only after those decisions have already been finalised.

The George Branch therefore formally records its objection to the proposed composition of the Regional Task Team as communicated in the letter dated 27 September 2026.

We reject the list on the basis of the non-consultative process through which it was produced.

We are not rejecting comrades personally. We are rejecting a process that seeks to make decisions affecting our branch and organisational space without the participation of the branch itself

If the PWC required recommendations, then the PWC should have had the political maturity to approach the George Branch and formally request them.

The branch should not have to ask to be consulted on matters concerning its own organisational space.
The George Branch remains committed to SASCO and to building a strong, organised and politically conscious student movement.

However, organisational unity must be based on mutual respect, consultation, accountability and democratic participation.

We therefore call for

* Proper consultation with the George Branch on the proposed reconfiguration of the Western Region
* A clear explanation of the process followed in establishing the RTT
* An opportunity for the George Branch to make recommendations

The George Branch will not accept a process in which decisions are made about us, without us, and then presented to us as though consultation has already taken place.

We are prepared to engage constructively and politically, but that engagement must begin with recognition, respect and genuine consultation.

We are a branch, not an afterthought.

Consult us before deciding for us.

Issued by:
GEORGE BRANCH