Such forums are merely the old structures with new names and faces. So all 'stakeholders' are structurally constrained and real changes doesn't happen. Instead the forums are used to give legitimacy to processes such as privatisation, etc. This shift from national to institutional 'transformation' has resulted in the de-radicalisation of the student movement. Not only has it alienated the student movement from its mass base, but it has also tied student leaders into highly technical debates which are far removed from our previous calls for 'overhauling' the system.
Wits is no different.
There was no longer a need to radically alter the structure as we had become part of it. And, yes, there were very lucrative positions for individuals wanting nice cvs. President Mandela himself called all student organisations together in 1996 after violent protests on campuses to scold us for being too 'impatient' with transformation. Time and time again the loyalism of student activists to the alliance has allowed the ANC to contain any critique of its conservative agenda through its intervention at opportune times in the crisis of higher education - in this process it has in fact been the student movement which has been denied 'autonomy'. But, we should also remember that the SRC is not in itself radical.