Political party big guns at NMMU
ANC, DA leaders add weight to campus campaigns ahead of SRC elections
ANC and DA heavyweights are at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University this week to campaign ahead of the heavily contested student representative council elections next week.
ANC provincial spokesman Mlibo Qoboshiyane was due to attend the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco) rally at the NMMU Missionvale campus yesterday, but the programme changed at the last minute to host ANC regional leader Nceba Faku, who told the students the ANC was fully behind them.
Sasco will also be hosting Higher Education Deputy Minister Mdu Manana in a public dialogue tomorrow on National Student Financial Aid Scheme developments and the government’s plan for the higher education sector.
The DA’s shadow minister for rural development and land reform, Athol Trollip, will be campaigning at the South campus tomorrow to woo students to vote for a DA Student Organisation (Daso)-led SRC.
DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko will be in the Bay on Monday to also encourage the students to vote for Daso. This follows DA leader Helen Zille’s visit to the university two weeks ago, when she spoke about the “importance of economic freedom in our lifetime”.
At the event, SRC president Yusuf Cassim spoke on their victories on campus in their fight against inequality.
Daso member Yanga Sibelekwana, who is in the running for SRC president, asked students to place their faith in Daso again as so much more still needed to be done.
Sasco and Daso are in a fierce stand-off for control of the 2013 SRC at NMMU. The elections will be held on Wednesday next week.
Meanwhile, Faku said Sasco members were the nucleus of the ANC and that was why they came to support them.
He said the university was named after Nelson Mandela and had to live up to his val- ues, and added that the university could not be controlled by Daso. “We cannot allow the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University to be under the leadership of Daso, it’s a curse,” he said.
Twelve Sasco members, candidates in the running to become the next president, were introduced to the students.
This was followed by an address by Sasco regional secretary Christopher Mncwabe.
He said there should be more residences on campus, libraries should stock recent books, there should be internet access for on- and off-campus accommodation, and surveillance cameras should be installed on all campuses.
Mncwabe said he was convinced Sasco would take back the reins from Daso.
Cassim said Daso’s track record over the past 18 months placed it in a good position to win the elections.
“We have been able to show how we can govern. We will win by a bigger margin.”