Wits EFF told to behave or shut up

24 August 2015 - 02:02 By Katharine Child

Wits Vice Chancellor Adam Habib is adamant that the Economic Freedom Fighters branch at the university will remain suspended until it agrees to abide by campus rules. EFF leaders, including commander-in-chief Julius Malema, took to Twitter yesterday, accusing Habib and the Wits management of "picking on" the party.Last week the Wits branch of the EFF disrupted a pre-election meeting of the students' representative council on the campus. Fist fights broke out and the event was cancelled.Following investigations, the university's recognition of the EFF was withdrawn and some students were denied access to the campus.Habib said the party had not agreed to abide by electoral rules and to participate in election meetings without violence and disruptions.Malema said on Twitter: "Violence should be punishable, but you don't do that by banning a political party: that's apartheid mentality."Wits EFF members accused the university of being manipulated by politicians."The purging of the EFF students' command must be seen for what it really is. A blatant silencing of the only mouthpiece of the marginalised black students in the institution, and the suppression of an organisation that is seen to be a threat to the white supremacist structure the institution has upheld and maintained since time immemorial."Habib said he allowed free speech and took no action when he was attacked on Twitter.Tweets yesterday compared Habib to a "klein" Hitler with "Verwoedian tendencies".The Wits executive committee said on Friday that it was "in the best interests of the university that the recognition of the Wits EFF as a society at the university be withdrawn".The EFF's Floyd Shivambu responded: "What gives the Wits exco the power to ban political parties? Who the hell do they think they are? Wits is a public institution!"Habib said the EFF could reapply for recognition if it agreed to abide by election rules...

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