UB student challenges politics ban in court
Oarabile Mosikare | Thursday March 26, 2015 17:54
Yesterday morning attorney Kabo Motswagole filed the notice of motion on behalf of Setlhomo Tshwanelang against the UB and attorney Parks Tafa in his capacity as the UB Council chairperson.
Tshwanelang is a second year UB student and a candidate in the upcoming Student Representative Council (SRC) elections.
In his founding affidavit, Tshwanelang said he is affected by several decisions, resolutions and memorandums of the respondents, in particular the issue dealing with political party association of students contesting for SRC.
He said sometime in mid-June 2014, Tafa took a decision that “the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) should serve the interests of the student community and not that of political parties,” and further that “candidates for elections of the SRC should compete as individuals and not as members of parties.
“On the 23rd March 2015 however, I became aware of a Memorandum from the Management of the UB issued under the hand of Director of Students Welfare to the Chief Electoral Officer, who had just been appointed by the SRC president, stating amongst other things that the upcoming elections should not be run along political lines,” said Tshwanelang.
The candidate said this puzzled him as according to his recollection SRC elections have never been conducted along political lines in that the electoral office appointed in terms of the SRC constitution has always registered individual contestants not as associations of units.
He also said several other members of the university community who do not belong to any political party or those individuals who may belong to political homes whose parties are not present on campus have always been allowed to contest SRC elections as individuals.
He disclosed that on March 23, 2015 while manning his own campaign stall which bore colours, slogans and some paraphernalia similar to that of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), he was approached by the UB security, who arrested him and informed him that he was in breach of the memorandum on the prohibition of the conduct of elections along political lines.
“In their statement to me the members of the UB security were emphatic that the kind of dissemination of messages under colours resembling a national political party is what the university actually prohibits.”
He is now of the view that the ban is unlawful and cannot be allowed to stand. This is because he has not consented to have his right to associate and join a student’s association defined along political lines taken away by the UB.
“Because of the benefit that successive generations of students have always enjoyed to not only belong to students’ associations defined along political ideologies but to campaign using colours, slogans and paraphernalia resembling national political parties, I had expected the university administration to have afforded me as a student of the UB who is eligible to stand for SRC elections to be heard before such a resolution is passed or be afforded to make representations before management implements such a serious resolution which intends to take away fundamental rights at the stroke of a pen.”
One of the reasons for an interdict is that he would like to contest the upcoming elections on March 31 and none other, so he cannot wait for the next cycle after the new SRC has served its term.
“I will suffer irreparable harm if the first respondent is allowed to proceed with the ban on partisan politics.” He also said the respondents would not suffer any prejudice if the interdict is granted. Yesterday, the UB SRC are expected to have filed an urgent application with the high court challenging the decision by the UB Council to ban party politics at the campus.
The SRC Secretary general Motonto Motonto said they will not sit back and let UB management violate their constitutional rights.