EFF student council has initiated legal action against the University of Pretoria for “unceremonious” suspension of its SRC candidates.
Party president Julius Malema said the university concocted rules which sought to bar the EFF SC from leading the institution.
Malema said his party’s student command must not allow itself to be bullied by the institution.
“The student command must not allow this and the courts and everyone else must never allow a group of elite individuals who sit and circumvent the wish of the people.
If we are going to allow such tendencies at the universities, it is going to visit us at the communities,” he said.
He accused the university of always being a symbol of racism.
“The University of Pretoria has always been racist, the EFF SC has won and then they use some rules to undermine the voice of students,” he added.
University spokesperson Rikus Delport said Malema’s allegations were without merit.
“Regarding the question of whether the university is racist, we find such an accusation to be baseless and unsubstantiated. If he (Malema) wishes to make such a claim, we kindly request that he provide evidence to substantiate it,” Delport said.
The spokesperson said the institution was well aware of the disqualified student’s attempts to initiate legal action against the university.
“The university is committed to vigorously defending its position in this matter. The students were disqualified based on alleged violations of specific sections within the constitution of student governance (CSG),” said Delport.
He said the university did not fabricate charges as the EFF leaders would like to believe, adding that the students breached rules not limited to the unauthorised use of posters not issued by the independent electoral committee (IEC), improper placement of posters on poles, fences and lampposts.
Delport said these violations were prohibited by the CSG, which all the candidates were aware of.
“Additionally, they failed to affix stickers issued by the IEC on posters in accordance with university poster regulations.”
Recently the DA filed a complaint against the EFF with the Human Rights Commission for allegedly preventing other students from accessing the university.
The organisation said the EFF’s clear discrimination against white students and minority groups in South Africa was a violation of their basic human rights.
“What makes it worse is this is a public institution, a place of safety where students should be able to learn without feeling frightened or intimidated,” the organisation said at the time.
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