Political battle shifts to campuses in race for SRCs

AFTER a gruelling round of municipal elections, the political battle has now shifted to the control of universities.

Political parties are waging fierce battles to see who will lead next year’s Student Representative Councils (SRCs) at tertiary institutions.

EFF national student command leader Peter Keetse said students have become disillusioned with the ANC-aligned SA Students Congress (Sasco).

However, Sasco national president Thabo Moloja hit back, saying he hoped students would see that the EFF was in cahoots with the DA after the recent municipal elections, where the EFF voted for the DA in certain councils.

“We are confident that this would make students vote for us.

“They would realise you can’t trust the EFF,” Moloja said, adding that he was confident his party would do well at Wits, University of Venda and the Tshwane University of Technology.

“We have done well at the University of Johannesburg and Fort Hare.

“We are confident that we will win the other universities we want. We are confident we will reclaim the Mafikeng campus and get Univen too. No other party will perform as well as us,” he said.

Moloja said the one campus Sasco was likely to lose was the Unisa headquarters in Pretoria, which is run by the EFF.

Keetse said he was confident EFF would win key positions in most institutions.

At the North West University’s Vaal campus, they have already won six seats.

“We are confident that we will win key seats at TUT, North West University Mafikeng campus, Unisa and Wits. We are also ready to win the Vaal University of Technology,” Keetse said.

Elections in Mafikeng take place on Thursday and Friday.

“Our winning campuses are a clear indication of what’s happening in mainstream politics,” Keetse said.

At Stellenbosch University, Afriforum Youth is embroiled in a dispute with the institution after eight of its SRC representatives were suspended from taking part in the elections.

The eight were suspended after being found to have broken election protocol regarding campaign posters, electioneering, monetary limits, and caucus attendance.

The elections have been postponed indefinitely and Afriforum Youth is trying all it can to not be excluded.

Meanwhile, at Wits University and Unisa, students are anxiously waiting for the election results which are to be released this week after students went to the polls last week.

Unisa elections were for a national SRC and eight regional SRCs in campuses across the country, according to spokesman Martin Ramotshela.