The Freedom Front Plus has won the University of Pretoria’s (UP) annual student representative council elections for the ninth time in a row, party leader Pieter Mulder said in Pretoria on Monday.
The party received more than 5 000 of nearly 9 300 votes, up from its previous record of 3 300 last year, he said in Pretoria.
Claiming that the African National Congress had boycotted the poll and sought to encourage students not to participate, the FF+ said the constitutional minimum of 8 000 votes had nonetheless been easily surpassed.
Elections were held from Monday to Thursday last week, and the results announced on Monday.
”The result is of special importance seen in the light of the language debate which is currently taking place at historically Afrikaans universities,” Mulder said.
”The election sends a very clear message not only to the management of the UP, but also to the broader community. The Afrikaans minority is tired [of being] treated as second-class citizens.
”Not only on campuses where Afrikaans is mercilessly being phased out, but also in their places of employment where they are being harmed through affirmative action, and in their schools, towns and cities where their history is being disregarded and historical names are being wiped out in the name of transformation.”
The Democratic Alliance received fewer votes than last year, while it appeared that ANC supporters made their cross for the Pan Africanist Students Movement of Azania, the FF+ said.
The ANC Youth League could not be reached for comment. — Sapa