Sasco sweep boards in WSU vote

Although the South African Student Congress (Sasco) won the student elections at Walter Sisulu University, it failed to secure an overwhelming majority of seats on campuses.

Political formations that contested the elections included Sasco, the Pan Africanist Students’ Movement of Azania (Pasma), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)-backed independent candidate Lubabalo Royi, the ANCYL, Azanian People’s Organisation Student Convention (Azasco), Students’ Christian Organisation (SCO) and United Democratic Students’ Movement (Udesmo).

The Saturday Dispatch has learnt that the seat allocation at some campuses would now depend on negotiations as there was no clear majority. WSU acting spokesman Thando Cezula said it was clear that Sasco was ahead in terms of the votes.

Cezula said a total of 3737 votes were cast by students.

At the Buffalo City campus, Sasco won four seats, Pasma won three and SCO one. Udesmo received 69 votes and Royi 42, but no seats were allocated for them.

In Butterworth, Sasco won three seats, Pasma three and SCO had one. In Mthatha, 6711 votes were cast by students. Sasco had five seats, ANCYL four and Pasma and SCO three each.

In Queenstown, a total of 927 votes were cast. Sasco won three seats while Pasma won two.

Cezula said the elections had progressed smoothly.

The acting spokesman said a newly elected SRC was expected to be appointed on September 21.

In the past Sasco had merged with the ANCYL to secure the majority of seats. WSU has four campuses – Buffalo City, Mthatha, Butterworth and Queenstown.

Thousands of students cast their votes on Thursday and counting was done on the same day. Results were announced yesterday.

Sasco provincial secretary Yanga Zicina said the organisation was victorious. “We won all campuses out of four,” Zicina said.

Buffalo City Sasco regional chairman Misheck Mugabe said it had been a successful campaign. “The presidency of every campus will come to Sasco”.

Pasma national president Ndiyakholwa Ngqulu said Pasma had done well.

“We were up against the ANC and the provincial government as the Sasco campaign was boosted by senior government officials that are in the ANC. What is left now are boardroom negotiations at some of the campuses over the allocation of seats as some formations may merge to have the majority of seats,” Ngqulu said.

Royi said he did not do well because of challenges that hampered his campaign.

He said these included not having a chance to deliver his manifesto at the Buffalo City Campus main delivery site in Potsdam because the event was disrupted.

“Students also wanted EFF T-shirts and I could not give them because the Independent Electoral Commission forbids that when you are an independent candidate. I would have been disqualified.”

He said another challenge was that security guards did not allow him to enter residences to campaign. —msindisif@dispatch.co.za