EFF STATEMENT AFTER STUDYING THE COURT JUDGEMENT ON CASE AGAINST WITS UNIVERSITY

28 August 2015

After careful study of the judge’s verdict yesterday at the Gauteng Local Division of the High Court, the EFF is pleased with the court victory achieved against the unlawful and draconian suspension of EFF student leaders, who were victims of violence while staging a peaceful sit-in last Tuesday. The following were the findings of the court as per its verdict

1. The court rejected the University's nonsensical argument that the matter was not urgent. The judge said: "What makes this matter urgent is the fact that the students are being excluded from all activities, inclusive of their right to participate in educational activities separate from their participation as members of EFF. This in my view is a serious violation of a right enshrined in the Bill of Rights, namely the right to education”.

2. The judge stated that since the SRC elections were now in their second day, “the EFF candidates may be prejudiced if they enter the race for election at this late stage under the prevailing circumstances”. We agree that the circumstances deliberately created by Habib were clearly intended to and had the desired effect of excluding the EFF from contesting the elections. We have no doubt that the EFF would have won the elections, as we did at the University of Limpopo and Vaal University of Technology, to mention a few.

3. The judge set aside Habib’s decision to suspend the concerned members of the EFF Students Command and ordered the University “to allow them access to their allocated University residences, including lecture rooms, library, sport facilities, as well as laboratory and dining halls”.

4. The court ordered the University, within 10 days, to facilitate and convene disciplinary enquiries against the applicants to determine if they may have made themselves guilty of any contraventions of the University’s Code of Conduct. The notice of such enquiries “shall be served 5 clear days to the date of hearing”, said the judge.

We welcome these findings and, in particular, the opportunity for the students to clear their names and prove their innocence. The whole world could see television footage of rival organisations forcefully and violently removing our students from the stage, but Adam Habib chose to punish the victims.

The EFF has no quarrel with the University but with Habib. He informed us during our meeting with him on Monday that he had personally taken the decisions, including the banning of the EFF, then impressed his decisions on the EXCO. We are pleased that caring and concerned academics issued a statement on Monday distancing themselves from his apartheid tactics. They made it clear that such backwardness was not being perpetrated in their name. We also commend the constructive approach adopted by the Chair of Council and other senior academic leaders at the meeting with the EFF National Officials on Monday. It became clear that Habib considered himself untouchable and was on a frolic of his own.

Contrary to the futile attempts by our enemies to portray the EFF as a violent organisation, we have once again managed to achieve the unbanning of the EFF and the lifting of the suspensions by the application of only superior logic around the negotiating table on Monday and in court on Wednesday, respectively. Within 72 hours, superior logic, not violence, has won the day.

Our people know very well that the ANC has chillingly called us cockroaches. Blade Nzimande has said the EFF "must be killed" and on 12 February, violence was meted out against us in the House of Parliament in front of millions of viewers. We have always reacted peacefully and appealed to the courts for protection against this organised state-sponsored violence. For how long must we turn the other cheek?

To please his political masters, Habib went as far as wasting the University’s money to hire the most expensive government-trusted senior counsel, Jeremy Gauntlett from Cape Town, to argue against poor and defenseless students for whom he is supposed to act as their parent. It was as if he is fighting invading enemy forces. He arrogantly told the EFF leadership at our meeting that he has never lost a case and we responded by reminding him that neither have we.

The EFF’s team led by Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, assisted by Advocate Ngcukaitobi and briefed by Attorney Eric Mabuza, won hands down, a victory against the systematic disdain for black professionals on the part of the state and its apologists.

We call on all students to rise up and reject the undemocratic, cruel and illegal methods employed by the likes of Habib. They must rest assured that we shall overcome some day. No amount of violence and intimidation can change the course of history.

Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, August 28 2015