Former EFFSC UWC Deputy Chairperson and now EFFYC UWC Chairperson, Fighter Solly Mdingi, is a subject of an unfair legal process with the University of the Western Cape for participating in a peaceful SRC-led demonstration to address the issues of clearance, registration and the accomodation crisis that plagued hundreds of students at the beginning of the 2025 academic year. 

Fighter Mdingi has been bogusly charged, amongst other charges, with incitement and leading an unlawful protest, intimidation of students, as well as disrupting the financial processes of the institution by entering the UWC stadium, amongst other bogus charges, notwithstanding the verbal promise made by the DVC of Student Development and Support, Prof. Matete Madiba, that no student who partook in the protest would be victimised by the institution.

To date, UWC is hell-bent on destroying Solly Mdingi's academic career by prosecuting him for charges without evidence that ties him thereto. Mdingi is being prosecuted for leading a protest that was led by the SRC President, Mr Mcntosh Dama Khasembe, who has, together with the SRC, distanced himself from the protest. If this SRC was acting in good faith, they would have never allowed a Black student activist, fighting for the oppressed students of UWC, to be a victim of a Student Disciplinary Court whose intention is to expel him for being the voice of the voiceless. Surprisingly, Solly Mdingi was the ONLY student, out of a number of students, who was singled out and forced to face concocted charges of "intimidation" and leading an "unlawful protest". 

Till today, the SRC has not come to the defence of Solly Mdingi, leaving him to suffer under their watch because he does not affiliate with SASCO. Solly Mdingi is being charged for exposing the University of the Western Cape for its gross inhumanity, subjecting students to residences in unsafe areas, residences with toilets inside kitchens, pest-infested residences, and neighbourhoods with zero University security patrol.

Solly Mdingi is being persecuted for fighting for deserving students to be funded, for deserving students not to be academically and financially excluded, and lastly, for the University to realise that students are not stepchildren but primary stakeholders of UWC.

If we allow UWC to succeed in its attempts, we would have failed to ensure that, at least, one Black students from a humble background is able to liberate his family from the shackles of poverty.

Solly Mdingi will never apologise for protecting the rights of students who have been neglected by UWC.

If the UWC succeeds in its attempts to silence student activists and suspend/expel Fighter Mdingi, it means that student activism is under siege. We must not be silenced. Let us take a stand and defend one of our own.

By August, latest September, the University is expected to either suspend or expel Solly Mdingi from the institution. Let us unite and force them to drop the bogus charges against one of our own. BLACK PEOPLE, UNITE!

#HandsOffSollyMdingi
#WeAreSollyMdingi