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Tuks se amptelike studentekoerant / Official Tuks student newspaper / Kuranta ya baithuti ya semmušo ya Tuks
19September2011
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Election results delayed NINA VAN WYK
Once again this year students lined up to cast their votes in the SRC election which took place on 13 September. Charl Oberholzer, Chairperson of the SRC 2011, said, “The nal results of the election are not out yet. There are votes that cannot be counted yet, because of some problems with ballot papers on LC and there will be a re-election there, but besides that the election went smoothly.” Chairperson of the IEC, Wesley Timm, also reported that the elections went well. Timm said, “Voters were safely allowed to cast their votes and there were no incidents that put people in physical danger. Naturally there were minor logistical hiccups but most of them were sorted out immediately.” Timm also said that there were three issues that the IEC has referred to the Independent Monitoring Body (IMB) to consider whether they have affected the fairness of the election. Timm preferred not to comment on these issues until the IMB has considered them. He said, “The IEC will issue the results as soon as these issues have been resolved and the auditors have given their approval as well. We expect this to be early next week.” There was reportedly a crisis on Mamelodi campus during the elections. This case has been sent to the IMB, because SASCO lodged a complaint requesting re-elections. In their letter to the IMB, SASCO said that students on Mamelodi campus have informed their organisation that members of the IEC had told them that they are not aware of society ballot papers and that led to students only voting for individuals and not societies. “This is a gross violation of election procedures as stipulated in the constitution of student governance,” SASCO wrote. SASCO demanded that the Mamelodi votes be declared null and void and a new ballot be held “where all societies will be afforded equal opportunity and students at Mamelodi campus be given the right to vote for their faculty candidate and society of choice.” SASCO declared that they will not accept the current outcome of the Mamelodi elections should the IEC fail to do reelections on the campus. They ended their letter with, “Failure of the IMB to concede to this request will result in the South African Students Congress taking drastic action.” However, PASMA also sent a letter to the IMB beseeching the IMB not to call for re-elections at the Mamelodi campus. PASMA accused other parties of political sabotage. According to PASMA, the situation at the Mamelodi campus was resolved as early as
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possible because “by the time the voting started that side, it was only after six students had voted and all those six students were called and given the second ballot papers for societies, meaning that a crisis was prevented in time, and afterwards the elections proceeded normally as expected.” Oberholzer, on the other hand, who is also the Chairperson of AfriForum Youth on campus and the National Chairperson of AfriForum Youth, also said, “AfriForum is condent that we won the election, but we are still waiting for the nal results. AfriForum is the most active organisation on campus and enjoys a lot of support from students.” According to Oberholzer, students realise
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that the SRC has real value in student life and that the pressure that is on some student traditions led to more students voting. Normally, a constitutional meeting is held within a week after the announcement of the election results. In this meeting the 84 chosen parliament members are present and then they vote for the 21 SRC members. The percentage of students who cast their votes on election day is still being calculated.
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