STUDENT leadership elections at the University of Zululand (Unizulu) had a bumpy start, fraught with complications and controversy last week.
Angry Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Student Command and South African Democratic Students Movement (Sadesmo) members claimed the process was ‘unfair’.
They say the university and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) officials blocked some candidates from registering for the elections.
EFF student secretary Lindelihle Nkosi said their candidates at the Richards Bay campus submitted their forms just three minutes after closing time.
‘Some of our candidates’ registrations were not accepted, and were told their submissions were late. This is just clear sabotage of our members. Even those who submitted their documents on time apparently had names and other details wrong on the list. It is just amazing that only our members had the wrong information,’ said Nkosi.
They demanded for the errors to be rectified and their candidates to be permitted to stand in the upcoming elections.
Sadesmo’s Sfiso Madela said their applicants arrived three minutes before the deadline, but couldn’t submit because the IEC had already closed.
‘We could see the IEC representatives talking inside after being told we were late. We tried to speak to the Dean of Students, but our issue was not resolved. We were sabotaged on purpose, but we will now support our members who managed to submit,’ he said.
uThungulu District IEC Outreach and Training Officer, Lihle Luthuli, denied any favouritism towards any parties.
‘We just followed rules and regulations and the parties were aware of this. It had nothing to do with which organisation they belong to, but the deadline was over. No entry was supposed to be taken after 2pm on Friday,’ said Luthuli.
The university had not respond by the time of going to print.
