UP Student Representative Council election: AfriForum Youth brings urgent court application
Tomorrow AfriForum Youth will bring an urgent court application against the University of Pretoria (UP) after the announcement made by the latter today that a re-election of the student parliament will be held.
"We deduce that the result of the election is a political embarrassment for UP, as AfriForum Youth's support has increased significantly since the election of 2010," said Charl Oberholzer, National Chairperson of AfriForum Youth. Oberholzer also currently is the Chairperson of UP's Student Representative Council (SRC).
UP has declared the recent SRC election to be free, but not fair, as AfriForum Youth distributed a pamphlet on election day that encouraged students to vote for members of AfriForum Youth standing in the Faculties constituency.*
AfriForum Youth was charged after the election because the pamphlet had been distributed without the permission of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). An agreement was then reached between AfriForum Youth and UP, after which AfriForum paid a fine. No conviction was made based on the contents of the pamphlet.
"Tuks' idea of a free and fair election is that students should make uninformed decisions. AfriForum Youth simply informed the students which of the candidates also are members of AfriForum Youth. Neither any student nor Faculties candidate, with the exception of the ANC affiliated student association Sasco, submitted a complaint or expressed the feeling that the election had been unfair in any way." All indications are that Sasco's support has declined dramatically in the recent election.
After all election complaints had been finalised, Sasco sent a threatening letter to the management of UP, after which the Rector, Prof Cheryl de La Rey, instructed the Independent Monitoring Body (IMB) to reconsider the fairness of the election.
"UP did not take this decision based on a principle or any written regulation, but rather as a result of Sasco's political pressure," Oberholzer said.
Oberholzer also mentions that AfriForum Youth hopes to undo the decision of the Rector and the IMB by means of an interdict, as this decision infringes on the Faculties candidates freedom of association and because UP's decision is based on prejudice against AfriForum Youth.
"Students' freedom of association is being limited unashamedly by UP. Everyone has the right to say which organisation he or she belongs to and students likewise have the right to know the opinions and loyalties of the people they vote for. A member of the Executive Management of UP said during a meeting with AfriForum that the university wants to ensure that a single organisation will not dominate the campus," Oberholzer said.
The Student Representative Council election took place on 13 September 2011 and the date of the re-election has not been announced yet.
More information regarding the court application will be announced tomorrow.
*The Student Representative Council comprises three constituencies, namely Societies, Faculties and Residences. AfriForum Youth participated as a society. In the abovementioned pamphlet, AfriForum Youth merely indicated which of its members were candidates in the Faculties constituency. In terms of the Constitution for Student Governance no rule exists which prohibits this.
Statement issued by Charl Oberholzer, National Chairman, AfriForum Youth, October 26 2011
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