NWU terminates SCC elections: votes declared invalid

The North-West University (NWU) has terminated the 2020 Student Campus Council (SCC) elections on all three its campuses, and declared votes cast up until Thursday 15 October, as invalid.

In a statement released by the university on the evening on 15 October, the University Management says they have been monitoring the electronic election process, and after careful consideration, they have accepted the Independent Students’ Electoral Commission’s (ISEC) recommendation that the proceedings be stopped and terminated.

The university argues that the remote mode of casting a vote and the electronic identification of eligible voters are not explicitly provided for in the current (Student Representative Council) SRC Constitution of 2017.

The university further states that South Africa’s nationwide lockdown, have also negatively affected the election processes.

According to Louis Jacobs, director of corporate communication at the NWU, the university will soon be engaging with various stakeholders to discuss the way forward.

“No final decision has been made up to this stage, and as soon as the different stakeholders have met, we will communicate the outcome of these meetings to our student community. We regard this as a priority, and discussions will begin as soon as possible,” Jacobs said.

threestreamsmedia recently reported on the NWU’s state of readiness for it’s first digital SCC and SRC election. The online voting closed at 15:00 on 15 October, and the results would have been published on Friday 16 October.