Francesca Villette
THE University of the Western Cape’s DA Students Organisation (Daso) branch planned to probe the validity of recent Students Representative Council (SRC) elections at the campus, which it alleged were not a true reflection of how students voted.
Daso-UWC chairperson Marlo Ford said during the SRC elections last week their representatives reported instances where the university’s rules were allegedly infringed by members of the South African Students Congress (Sasco).
Ford said Sasco had a booth during the elections and were handing out pamphlets inside a voting station, which was in contravention of the rules.
Some students also apparently received more than one ballot to cast their vote, Ford alleged.
“Among some of these discrepancies was the fact that it seemed that some voters may have received more than one ballot to cast their vote. The chief electoral officer decided to ignore these objections and resumed counting the votes, which clearly undermines the integrity of the process,” Ford said.
The elections were overseen by an independent company, UWC spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said.
Sasco UWC chairperson Unathi Sigodi rejected allegations that it had been guilty of foul play, saying Sasco was used to organisations “complaining” about every election.
“We have campaigned since the start of the year and we deny the allegations,” Sigodi said.
The prospective opposition parties at the university were Daso, Sasco, the Pan-Africanist Students Movement of Azania, the EFF Student Command and Aluta.
Tyhalibongo said the university would release the results of the election today.
@FrancescaJaneV