ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS LAUNCH TUKS BRANCH The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Tuks branch was launched two weeks ago and has been registered as an official political society at UP. Last week during marketing week, the newly formed political society recruited 108 new members in two days at Hatfield campus. EFF Tuks recruited an overall 230 members. Ditswhanelo Mokoena, EFF Tuks coordinator, said that the party feels that Tuks students are not properly represented. Mokoena said that EFF Tuks’s goal is to make sure that the needs and struggles of poor and working class students are recognised. “We must try to fight inequality and injustice at this institution,” said Mokoena. EFF Tuks held its first general meeting with students on 27 February. Issues that were raised at the meeting included the prevailing National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) crisis, the discontinuation of buses to Sunnyside and Arcadia and the lack of transport to Prinshof campus. EFF Tuks said that it is also concerned with issues such as high residence fees and residence food prices, as well as the quality of food in dining halls. Nqobile Mhlongo, the convener of EFF Tuks, also mentioned that students have raised their concerns about different exam scopes being given to English and Afrikaans classes in the same modules, which she alleges usually benefits Afrikaans classes. EFF Tuks says that they advocate English as the only teaching language at the university. EFF Tuks has called for free tertiary education and has expressed its discontent with issues currently surrounding NSFAS which resulted in a number of UP students being unable to register due to outstanding fees. Mokoena said that it was disappointing to see UP students not engaging in a demonstration like other universities. “The political societies that are currently in this institution did not do anything about this situation, which means they are indeed failing the working class students,” he said. EFF Tuks told Perdeby that it is yet to release its manifesto and that it plans to participate in the SRC elections later this year.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 09:17:26 +0000