New societies highlight solidarity and sustainability

A total of 35 new student societies have become part of student life on North-West University’s Potchefstroom campus during the first term of the academic year.

Following the affiliation of these new societies with the Student Campus Council (SCC) at the end of 2025 the campus now hosts about 90 student organisations, focusing on culture, politics, religion and rights advocacy, according to SCC’s societies booklet.

Two of the new societies are the Olive Tree Amplifiers and the Urban Garden Society.

The Olive Tree Amplifiers’ core mission is to amplify the voices of the Palestinian struggle and to create a student movement for the Palestinian struggle, said Uzair Patel, one of the founders of the society and its chairperson.

Since October 2023, the war between Israel and Palestine has left Palestine recording over 65,000 deaths and more than 165,000 injuries, according to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.

Patel thought that something had to be done to show solidarity. By September, the society was founded and in October the SCC formally affiliated the group.

When asked what makes their society unique, Antjie Koekemoer, who is responsible for event planning at the Olive Tree Amplifiers, said: “We have Muslims, atheists, Christians, [and] Jews [as members]. We have the whole spectrum. We have people from all races and sexualities. Everybody becomes friends quickly.”

The SCC has named the Olive Tree Amplifiers as the ”Society of the Month” for March.

The Urban Garden Society, another new grouping, is committed to sustainability on campus.

Its mission is to equip students with gardening skills and to give them the resources to start their own garden.

“We saw, especially last year, a lot of people didn’t get food parcels. They had no food at all. So, what we do, is we’re trying to assist and equip them to grow their own food,” said Thendo Ramavhona, the chairperson of the society, when asked what inspired its founding.

• For further information about the Olive Tree Ampliers contact Uzair Mohamed Patel on 071442 8121. The Urban Garden Society can get in touch with Thendo Ramavhona on 066 497 7263