Secretary General: South Africa Students Congress (SASCO)
“He is a disciplined young revolutionary and an intellectual with enormous potential.” This is how a friend and mentor described the new secretary general of Sasco, Themba Masondo. With the ANC Youth League now seen by many as a mere desk, Masondo and his comrades at Sasco have taken on the radical role once played by the Young Lions. Under his leadership Sasco has been a thorn in the side of Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, accusing him of failing to provide free, quality higher education for the poor. Sasco also rejected the national development plan on the basis that “it is built on the ultra right-wing notion of open opportunity society”. Masondo is a full-time PhD candidate in the department of sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand and a PhD fellow at the university’s Society, Work and Development Institute. He has contributed a chapter to a book on Cosatu’s legacy.
— Matuma Letsoalo
Website: sasco.org.za