Cape Town - Student leaders from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) left court disappointed after they lost their bid to stop the current Student Representative Council (SRC) elections at the institution.
CPUT spokesperson Lauren Kansley said, “The urgent application was dismissed. We are pleased to say that SRC elections continued uninterrupted from 3pm today (on Monday) and we are grateful that the more than 33 000 CPUT students who are eligible to vote will be exercising that right and doing so.”
Pan Africanist Students Movement of Azania (Pasma) along with the SA Students Congress (Sasco), filed an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court seeking an interim interdict to stop the elections on Monday and today.
Their lawyer, advocate Sabelo Sibanda, in arguing before Acting Judge Alan Maher, said, “The situation at hand as far as the institution is concerned is that currently they are sitting in exams. It is absolutely critical that students be afforded an opportunity to concentrate fully on the exams.”
They claim that CPUT did not afford them ample time to prepare for the elections as a student body and the resolution for elections to be held on the given dates had been passed by a council that was constituted irregularly, without student representation.
In September 2021, a resolution was passed that the SRC’s term in office would be terminated at the end of August 2022. Subsequent to their term coming to an end, CPUT informed the student body early this month that it would proceed with the elections.
Judge Maher asked, “Why stop proceedings that have already begun, when you can have the results set aside?”
Advocate Sibanda replied, “The most critical aspect is that in as much as those decisions can be overturned at a later stage, in the meantime there will be a group of people who will be purporting to be the SRC, who will now be entitled to the budget of the university and be able to use that budget in a manner that they see fit, regardless of the fact that they will know there is a challenge coming.
“It is absolutely critical that they be prevented from being elected into office in the first place, so that a student body that has the necessary powers emanating from a free, fair and credible election can then be responsible for allocating resources.
“There is a lot of power that goes with being on the SRC, and while the legalities are being argued in court, the damage will be happening on the ground. The reason the applicants are coming to court is to protect the integrity of the university.”
Opposing the application, CPUT’s lawyer, Naseerah Essa’s said the legal basis for an interim interdict depended on the lack of alternatives, but in this case there were alternative remedies.
“On the narrow issue of urgency, we have raised the possibility of substantial redress. It cannot be said that in an instance like this there is no alternative remedy because there is.
“The election process will proceed, thereafter it makes enough ambit for the objection process and after that you would exhaust all internal processes and you would still be entitled to a process… where you are well within your rights to bring a review application before this court for proper consideration and proper ventilation.”
She said more than 33 000 had registered to vote in the current elections despite the point being raised that some students would not be able to vote because they were on holiday.
“It can never be said that the applicants are speaking on behalf of a large body of students, they are speaking on (behalf of) a minority.
“Just because the first and second applicant (Pasma and Sasco) didn’t participate in the process doesn’t mean it was not a properly constituted process. There are many other structures that have participated, their candidates have been vetted and are being voted for today and tomorrow,” Essa argued.
In his ruling, Judge Maher said, “I’m of the view that there is no urgency and any urgency there is, was self-created. The matter is accordingly struck from the roll.”