According to the Director of Student Governance and Leadership Development, Dr Gugulethu Xaba, a whopping 49,77% of students casted their votes in this year’s online SRC elections between14 and 16 September 2021.
SASCO (South African Student’s Congress ) and the EFFSC (EFF Student Command) lead the pack with an overall voter percentage of 32.8%. They were each allocated 3 seats, with the Student Christian Organisation occupying one seat at the ISRC level.
Dr Xaba said more TUT students voted than at any other university in South Africa, making it the biggest election at a higher education institution in the country in terms of voter participation.
“We recorded a 49.77% student turn-out during this election. A great deal of time and effort went into adapting to the elections being online, but I really want to thank the students for their participation and ensuring a peaceful, free, and fair election process,” he said.
In his remarks during the official announcement of the preliminary results of the elections, Dr Shadrack Nthangeni, Acting DVC: Student Affairs and Extracurricular Development, said the 2021 elections were peaceful and well-conducted.
"Although the elections were highly contested, no incidents of violent conduct or political intolerance were reported to my office during the entire election period," he said.
He added that it was encouraging to see students complying with COVID-19 protocols throughout the elections and thanked the students who took their time to practice their constitutional rights to vote.
Dr Nthangeni also encouraged students to get vaccinated in numbers, to ensure that the University reaches campus heard immunity.
In her closing remarks, the Chief Electoral Officer, Ms Crystal Africa said: “I want to commend TUT and thank the University for the opportunity to present the inaugural online SRC elections.”