Against the background of the recent student protests in universities across South Africa, this paper analyses the reflections of twelve former student leaders from 1994 to 2017 by asking the following questions: Has the post-apartheid regulatory framework for higher education governance failed? Have the provisions for student representation failed? Is there a need for a new re-imagining of higher education governance and student leadership therein? To focus on these questions, the paper revisits the regulatory framework for student representation and then analyses the reflections of twelve former South African student leaders on higher education governance and student representation in detail. The analysis finds that after initial reservations towards the post-apartheid 'co-operative governance' framework, student leaders in very different institutional contexts have tried various ways of working with the system with mixed results. Too often frustration abounds, and alternatives to the formal route frequently yield better, faster results. Can co-operative governance be saved and made to work? The former student leaders make various suggestions when reflecting on the foundations of good and bad governance practices and recommendations for a way forward.