EFF Student Command sweeps all before it

Whenever there are elections, political parties always speak of how they will be in power after voters cast the ballots.

That was not the case at the Buffalo City College on Tuesday when the EFF Student Command (EFFSC) made a clean sweep – taking all 12 student representative council seats – much to the surprise of many, including the young red berets themselves.

EFFSC branch chair Sitha Nkathu said they had only expected to win a few seats.

“We still cannot believe that we are in charge of the entire college,” he said.

The EFFSC, which has been making inroads at a number of tertiary institutions, unseated the South African Students Congress, which had been in charge of the TVET college for the past six years.

The EFFSC’s victory at the college comes just a month after their fellow fighters took control of the University of Fort Hare’s East London campus.

Nkathu said for the past four years they had worked hard to gain the trust of the student community.

“We are happy that eventually they had faith in us and gave us an opportunity to lead them. It has been a long journey.

“We failed to convince students of Buffalo City College to vote for the EFFSC in the past, but this year our patience paid off,” he said.

And Nkathu said the EFFSC SRC leadership would hit the ground running and champion students’ burning issues.

“Students, who are the main stakeholders of this college, are not being taken seriously.

“They are using outdated textbooks and that needs to change.

“The time for change has come, and that time is now,” he said.

Chief among their priorities would be to ensure that student accommodation – which has been in the spotlight at a number of tertiary institutions including BCC – would be given the priority it deserved.

“The conditions students live under need urgent attention,” he said.

They would also be tackling the issue of placement of N6 students for training.

Sasco’s Simamkele Kuse said they took the defeat on the chin. Asked why Sasco did not get even a single seat, Kuse attributed their bruising loss to a poor campaign.

“We are not going to give up though. We are going to go back to the drawing board and see where we can improve ourselves and regain the faith of the students,” he said.