By Sbongile Nonyana
Campaigning for the Student Representative Council (SRC) elections at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) campuses is hotting up.
The 2024-25 elections will be held online from 3 to 5 September and political and other organisations contesting the SRC elections at the six campuses are gearing up to select their nominees following the surprise results of the 29 May general elections.
In the 2022-23 elections, the ANC-aligned South African Students Congress (Sasco) won all six campuses, but last year the EFF Student Command (EFFSC) won five of them.
The current nine-seat SRC consists of the EFF Student Command (4), Sasco (3), the IFP-aligned South African Democratic Student Movement (Sadesmo) and the Students’ Christian Organisation (1).
Other organisations contesting this year’s elections include the ANC Youth League, Democratic Alliance Student Organisation, Umkhonto Wesizwe Youth League, First Year Council, Rise Mzansi and eight others.
Sasco’s Refiloe Mthethwa, deputy secretary of the SRC, said: “Elections at campus level sharpen us as young adults on how to cast our votes.
“It is an interesting process, and the structures will use different strategies to win students’ hearts.”
SRC president Emanuel Makhurupetji of the EFFSC said: “As a leader, it’s either you become a puppet of the management or nothing. It is difficult to lead when some people are taught to hate you.”
Makhurupetji said Sasco would “try by all means to regain power since they’ve struggled a lot this year, and staff members will use their resources to try to ensure Sasco regains power”.
However, he didn’t think Sasco would win convincingly and that the election result would be a coalition SRC.
Pictured above: Tshwane University of Technology.
Source: Tshwane University of Technology
