AfriForum Youth demands the UP to deregister the EFFSC and expel their SC candidates

AfriForum Youth is aware of the inexcusable manner in which the EFF Student Command (EFFSC) has been behaving at the University of Pretoria (UP) since the voting process for the student council (SC) election began on 5 September. The youth organisation demands in an urgent letter to the UP that the EFFSC UP be deregistered as a student society and that their SC candidates be suspended.

AfriForum Youth also deployed private security today to protect the students who feel unsafe. Yesterday the EFFSC UP took part in acts of intimidation, incitement to violence, the disruption of study responsibilities and the fuelling of racial tension.

“Students who feel unsafe approached AfriForum Youth to help after the EFFSC UP boisterously tried to campaign for votes outside ladies’ dormitories until midnight last night. They drove up and down the streets with vehicles and loudspeakers and even sang ‘Kill the Boer’,” says René van der Vyver, spokesperson for AfriForum Youth.

AfriForum Youth takes intimidation seriously, especially when it endangers the safety of students. The youth organisation on various occasions appealed to the UP to take action against similar actions by the EFFSC UP. “The UP still fails to act, while the only response that AfriForum Youth has received from them is a telephone call from a management member who claims that the EFFSC UP is not a registered student society. However, the university’s website confirms that the EFFSC UP is indeed a registered student society,” adds Van der Vyver.

“AfriForum Youth expects prompt, written feedback from the UP with adequate plans to take disciplinary action and respond to our demands. In the meantime, a petition is being launched to ensure that the voices of students who feel unsafe because of the EFFSC UP’s actions are heard,” concludes Van der Vyver.