Students lambast president!

THE National Executive Committee (NEC) of the South African Students Congress (Sasco) has publicly criticised president Vezinhlanhla Simelani for engaging in unlawful and unconstitutional conduct.

This development followed a statement issued on 14 July on their Facebook page, which disclosed that a National Working Committee (NWC) meeting was convened to update on secretarial reports and oversee daily operations as required.

Regrettably, the meeting was dominated by the secretary-general, who asserted himself as the sole representative of the organisation, preventing others from participating.

"The NWC has resolved to provisionally suspend secretary-general Cde Alungile Kamtshe until the next NEC meeting scheduled for 2-4 August," the statement said.

A significant number of NEC and NWC members, 13 out of 20 and 7 out of 11 respectively, have dissociated themselves from the statement and rejected the outcomes of the purported NWC meeting led by Simelani, claiming it doesn't accurately reflect the official NWC meeting which should be conducted in consultation with the president, as stipulated by their constitution.

"The president, while holding the position as head of the organisation, does not possess the constitutional authority to unilaterally call an NWC meeting," they said.

The members emphasised that the alleged NWC meeting and its resolutions are deemed illegitimate, illegal, and false as they blatantly disregarded constitutional norms.

"While we acknowledge that the president is constitutionally authorised to issue statements on behalf of the organisation, this does not extend to him contradicting the views and resolutions of the NWC or the NEC for his personal gain," they said.

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They also noted that Mangaliso Nompula, named in the statement as the contact for media enquiries, has disassociated himself from the unlawful meeting and its outcomes.

To date, the suspended secretary-general has not been formally charged or presented with the alleged complaint, thus denying him his fundamental right to defend himself.

However, in a conversation with Daily Sun, Simelani mentioned that the statements made on 21 July were released without his office's approval as the Chief Spokesperson.

"The issue concerning the embattled secretary-general is currently being handled internally; therefore, we are unable to comment further," Simelani said.

He said that their current priority is to address all forms of misconduct and prevent the formation of parallel structures.

"Our main focus now is to participate in the upcoming Student Representative Council (SRC) elections for 2024/25 as a unified and effective organisation," he added.