The gloves are coming off
- By Erna van Wyk
Election fever hit Wits on Thursday night (10 April 2014) when rowdy, cheering supporters from the ANC, the DA and Agang SA filled the Great Hall for the first in a series of five televised Wits Great Election Debates.
The election series is hosted by Wits University and media partners, eNCA and the Independent Newspapers Group.
The gloves came off when ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, the DA’s Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Wilmot James, and the leader of Agang SA, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, had to answer some difficult questions from students, University staff and the public.
Under the theme: How far have we come in 20 years?, the politicians were first given a minute each to state their side before the debate was opened to questions from the audience.
A panel consisting of Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Adam Habib, Daryl Glaser (Associate Professor: Political Studies), Professor Jannie Rossouw (Head: Wits School of Economic and Business Sciences) and Cecilia Russell (Editor: Saturday Star) asked questions ranging from the intellectual differences between poverty and inequality to the size, and possible increase, of the cabinet and government departments.
Students and members of the public also wanted to know whether the Nkandla debacle had dented the image of the ANC and the destroyed the legacy of the late former president Nelson Mandela.
Click here to read the full story from The Star.
To watch video clips, go to eNCA.
The next debate on Thursday, 17 April 2014, will focus on The Struggle for the Hearts of the Youth, and will feature the EFF’s Floyd Shivambu, the DA’s Lindiwe Mazibuko and Fikile Mbalula from the ANC.
Visit www.wits.ac.za weekly for information regarding the upcoming debates and how to register. On the night, each debate will be broadcast live between 20:00 and 21:00 on eNCA, channel 403 on DSTV, and facilitated by News Night anchors, Jeremy Maggs or Iman Rappetti.