EFF STATEMENT ON THE ILLEGAL BANNING OF THE EFF BRANCH AT WITS UNIVERSITY

22 August 2015

The Economic Freedom Fighters rejects the suspension of the EFF student branch by the EXCO of the Council of Wits University yesterday. We reject this suspension in light of the fact that it happens conveniently on the eve of the SRC elections which the EFF was set to win. Yesterday, the EFF branch at Wits University were informed by the Vice chancellor that:

(1) They were suspended from any activities at the University
(2) They were disqualified from election processes

This, the University claims it did because EFF students were disruptive in an electoral debate session which erupted in altercations. The EFF is informed that there is no evidence that EFF members in particular were responsible for this incident and that the University did not conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

The timing of this suspension and the unfair manner in which it was conducted is worrisome and can only lead us to believe that the decision was politically motivated. If the University felt the electoral process was being disrupted, they would have halted all proceedings and conducted a thorough investigation.

Instead, they hastily targeted our members for suspension, while elections are being allowed to continue. Interestingly, the EFF branch at Wits is liberating disadvantaged students from the oppressive and untransformed administration of the University, and they were set to uncover corruption at the highest level.

We also know that the University is being controlled by politicians who are determined to ‘kill the EFF’ and its footprint from the university. It is not the first time this Apartheid university has mistreated our members.

In 2014 when our leadership went to address students there, members of Sasco were allowed willy-nilly by the University to disrupt our meeting. No one was suspended. In addition, our members are constantly being harassed by the University with disciplinary actions and other tactics. We view this as a direct threat to the freedoms of our members which are otherwise afforded all others organs of the institution.

We want to warn this racist and untransformed university not to pursue their political agendas in our institutions of higher learning. Universities are fertile grounds for freedom of expression and free flow of ideas. It is clear that the Wits EXCO has an agenda to suppress ideas of the coming revolution to the extent of brazenly shutting the EFF from elections with the knowledge that EFF victory was certain. The EFF will not take this lying down.

We view this as a direct launch of a political battle against our members and we will respond accordingly. We cannot allow our members, or any student at the university for that matter to be bullied and suppressed in that manner.

We call on the racist EXCO of the Council of Wits to reverse this draconian decision they have made. We call on them instead to thoroughly investigate the said incident of disruption. We also warn the University to take issues of transformation seriously and resist their partisan temptation to suppress and ‘kill’ the EFF in that institution. We will not allow it.

Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, August 22 2015