Do not throw Maties’ SRC candidate to wolves, demands AfriForum Youth
AfriForum Youth appeals to Stellenbosch University (SU) not to throw Jolene le Roux to the wolves and to urgently intervene to put an end to the unlawful conduct of relevant subordinate structures of SU against her.
However, this Pro-Afrikaans candidate’s relief when she was elected to SU’s Students’ Representative Council (SRC) for 2024/2025 was short-lived. After SU’s Election Commission (EC) dismissed all complaints against Le Roux in this year’s SRC election, the nine provisional SRC candidates – which includes Le Roux – were officially announced on 5 September.
However, shortly after the announcement of the provisional SRC candidates, Le Roux was informed that an application against her election and aspects of her campaign was brought to SU’s Student Court. However, this is not the first time that Le Roux’s election campaign is under the magnifying glass. About a month ago, she was accused of receiving funding from a third party to promote her election campaign and that a post made on AfriForum Youth’s Instagram page endangered the “integrity of the election process” and gave her an “unfair advantage”. This even though the post in question made no reference to her as an SRC candidate. The Student Court dismissed the case because the EC was unable to provide sufficient evidence to prove their case.
According to a lawyer’s letter from AfriForum Youth’s legal team on 20 September to Prof. Wim de Villiers, the SU rector, Le Roux is a victim to continuous vexatious and superfluous proceedings brought by parties for almost a month – to the extent that the multiple actions against her amounts to harassment and victimisation.
“The vexatious proceedings against her are now taking their toll on her. Our client is suffering severe prejudice because of the ongoing actions against her under the name and style of official structures of the university and the management of the university which simply refuses to intervene,” says Wian Spies, AfriForum Youth’s legal representative.
“While she should rather focus on her studies, she is busy defending various unfounded complaints against her. Furthermore, she must also pay attention to her new role as a member of the SRC.”
If SU does not intervene in the relevant structures’ actions against Le Roux, AfriForum Youth will turn to the High Court to obtain an interdict to stop the unlawful conduct, which in essence amounts to victimisation and harassment.
SU has until 27 September to respond to AfriForum Youth’s letter with solutions and/or proposals.
