Student political parties and other organisations or societies play a huge role in holding the SRC accountable at the student forum, because the student community is made up of these bodies and their various ideologies. PDBY reached out to the various political parties that were present at the student forum for their comment on the collapse of the forum.
DASO-UP: “Firstly, DASO UP is very appalled by the tremendous lack of decorum displayed by the EFFSC UP and SASCO UP. The aforementioned organisations consistently show a lack of respect for the rules of the house at such events and we are very appalled by it. Their behaviour makes it difficult for the Presiding Officer to preside over the sitting. As such, we will continue to call for an upkeep of law and order in a way that the Constitutional Tribunal sees fit.
Secondly, on the topic of DASO UP’s “silence” while journalists were being intimidated, we would like to say the following. When the entire ordeal was occurring, the forum had not yet been officially started by the Presiding Officer, hence DASO UP had no grounds on which we could take action at that moment. Again, we are appalled, particularly, by the behaviour of the EFFSC in this regard. Freedom of the Press is one of the many cornerstones of a functioning democracy. The EFFSC UP disregarding that freedom is also the EFFSC UP disregarding our Constitution. DASO UP urges the Constitutional Tribunal to ensure that journalists are protected. We value the press tremendously because of their magnanimous contribution to the betterment of society and the flow and democratisation of information.”
SASCO-UP– “We are a democratic organisation that promotes accountability and we are committed to our generational mission of free education for all, we, amongst other student leaders had hoped to hold the SRC accountable for the recently announced fee increment, and that was paramount to us more than any other thing, we were aware of non-students accessing the venue in the EFFSC, and we had no dispute with the EFF’s request that those who are not students must excuse us, but our argument was that it’s impossible to hand pick who is a student and who is not, but rather we allow security to scan everyone in the venue, that was the only way to verify who is a student and who is not, and that is what led to the collapse of the student forum, as the SC rejected that because they knew they would be affected. We, just like every student are concerned by their uncalled-for behaviour and the failure to protect the student forum by the presiding officer. Any other position communicated by any publication which is not the one I just shared with you, it’s just dishonest and regretful.”
PDBY has also reached out to EFFSC-UP and is waiting on their response after the following acknowledgement, “Revolutionary greetings. The EFFSC UP trusts this message finds you well. We will respond to your message shortly”. After various attempts to reach out to the SRC for comment, PDBY has not yet gotten a response from the SRC.
This is a developing story.
Political Science II
Transformation officer
House Humanities (Faculty House)
Executive Committee 2020/2021
PDBY University of Pretoria News Journalist
Sisterhood Society Chairperson
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