About 200 university students took on the roles of councillors when they occupied the hot-seats in Council Chambers to decide the fate of Johannesburg residents – in a mock sitting.
On Friday, University of Johannesburg (UJ) and University of South Africa (Unisa) political science, international relations and developmental studies students battled it out in the first-ever Student Mock Council.
The Student Mock Council’s aim was to introduce the students to real-life situation of being a councillor in the City and to give them practical experience of council sitting.
As part of this collaboration, last month, the Legislature leadership went to UJ to engage with more than 450 students.
Addressing the students – who had assumed their roles as councillors for the day on Friday, Speaker of Council Councillor Vasco da Gama said: “My job today is to sit back and listen to you deliberate on a very important issue in the City.
“I urge you to take this task very seriously. We are eager to hear your views on the issue of undocumented foreign nationals, is it a crisis or is it an opportunity? What do you suggest is to be done? These pertinent questions will drive the debate today.”
The topic for debate in the chamber was: “The challenge of undocumented foreign national in the City of Johannesburg: Crisis of opportunity? What is to be done?”
Like true politicians, the emotive debate saw future leaders engage in a robust and heated argument, which often saw the acting speaker of the day having to field many points of orders raised from all directions.
From the side that saw the undocumented foreigners as a positive, they claimed that this was an opportunity for South Africa to work with neighbouring countries to find lasting solutions as immigrants were contributing positively to the country’s economy.
Those who were against the principle of undocumented foreigners said corruption was behind many foreigners coming to the country undocumented and that undocumented foreigners were also victims of the system as they could not access public health care, social services and better working conditions.
UJ student Nathan Edward Swartz, a councillor for the day, said the opportunity was a “great experience for him”.
Fellow UJ student Sna Zoe Intombi said: “The Mock Council gave students the best kind of practical experience through being councillors for the day. It’s a great day for intellectual debate among the best.”
