Pretoria - EFF students at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and their South African Student Congress (Sasco) counterparts have continued to blame each other for the violence that erupted on the campus on Wednesday.
The university, meanwhile, said it strongly condemned the violent clashes, which it said followed an unsanctioned visit to the campus by EFF leader Julius Malema.
The blame game and intense rivalry continued to simmer on Thursday while voting for the new student representative council (SRC) went ahead smoothly.
Seven political parties are contesting the elections, with the ANC and EFF being the main contenders.
Preliminary results are due this morning, after which parties with anything to contest had until the start of next week to lodge their protests. The final outcome will be made public by next Wednesday.
Leaders of the EFF and Sasco spoke about the events of Wednesday afternoon when a vicious fight broke out during a visit by Malema, leaving some students injured.
They blamed each other for having started the fight in which fists were flying, while stones, bricks and other missiles were hurled.
“We had to defend ourselves and fought as we retreated, or we would have been badly injured,” Sasco deputy chairman Monkie Maluleka said. He said Sasco members had been going around campus, lobbying and canvassing the student body to vote in the elections.
Malema was on campus on an unsanctioned visit to rally EFF members to come out in their numbers to vote in the election.
Chaos broke out when Sasco members approached the Fountains Area where the rally was held, disrupting Malema’s speech. Missiles were thrown, and in response Malema encouraged his members to retaliate.
And attack they did, driving Sasco members back and into the safety of their stronghold, Building 31.
“Our members felt intimidated when Sasco advanced into our space, and when they started attacking us we had to defend ourselves as we retreated,” said Thuto Nthulenyane, the EFF’s TUT secretary general.
He said they had been listening to their leader in the privacy of their chosen space at Fountains Area. “There was no reason for Sasco to be there. This is our area. We never go near Building 31 because that is where they are based.”
Nthulenyane admitted that the order to attack was not the best.
“But under those circumstances, there was no other course of action; we were under attack and had to protect ourselves or be killed.”
Both parties confidently spoke about winning the elections and grabbing most of the 12 available seats. “We will get no less than eight this year because students are confident in us and know we always deliver on all their needs,” said Maluleka.
Nthulenyane said students across all campuses of the university had expressed confidence in the party and what it had to offer.
“We are the new kid on the block and we have so much potential and that has appealed to students all over,” he said.
TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said: “We have a contingency plan in place to deal with any eventualities during the election period. The university strongly condemned the violent clashes,” she said.
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Pretoria News