It’s dirty politics, says SRA leader about bribe allegations

The University of Venda's student leader, Sylvester Motadi, is being accused by the ANCYL of taking a bribe from the company that was given the tender to organise the annual Fresher's Ball. Motadi, however, described it as dirty politics stemming from people who are jealous of all that Azasco had thus far achieved on the campus.

ANC Youth League representatives on the campus claim that Motadi, president of the Students Representative Assembly (SRA) from Azasco, demanded R175 000 from Sebenzani, a service provider. According to ANCYL chairperson at Univen Zaphanath Tshipuke, they were informed by a representative of the service provider that they could not perform to the best of their ability, because the president had demanded R175 000 from them. "They said this was the reason why they were struggling, as they were left with a limited budget," he said.

Tshipuke said the service provider was given R800 000 to run the pre-Fresher's ball bash on Friday evening and the Fresher's Ball festival on Saturday, May 15 and 16 respectively. The R800 000 was from the university and Tshipuke claims there was an additional R200 000 that was donated by Vodacom to help cover the cost of staging the show. According to the agreement, the service provider, Sebenzani, was to be given R800 000 to run the show, of which a balance of R400 000 was to be paid to them after the successful staging of the event.

When asked for comment, Motadi disputed the fact that Vodacom had donated R200 000 for the running of the show. He also stated that political organisations on the campus did not have all the relevant facts and that they were simply using half truths to discredit the Azasco-controlled SRA.

Motadi appealed to students to be patient with these students' organisations and also to be aware that such people did not have the interests of the students at heart. "They are the organisations that become very vocal on issues of money, but they cannot solve anything which is in the best interest of the education of the students," said Motadi.

In a statement released to the students on campus last week, the ANCYL said it was disappointed that students were promised an "event of the year" by the Azasco-led SRA, "but only to find that it comprised corrupt arrangements and hot golden handshake processes."

The ANCYL said they were also concerned by the fact that the list of artists suggested by the students for the Fresher's Ball were not fully complied with by the service provider. "There was not even a fence to ensure the security of artists and other VIPs. The sound system was weak and the local and gospel artists' category was not represented."

The ANCYL called on the Univen management to suspend the president and to start with investigations. "The remaining balance of R400 000 must not be paid to the service provider as they did not do a good job and we urge the management to open a criminal case with the police in terms of the university statutes and procurement policies," says the ANCYL.

Commenting on behalf of the service provider, a lady who only identified herself as Mohau said: "It is not true that we gave the president any money. We never communicated with any student as we know nobody there. During our preparations we have been communicating with the management, not students," said Mohau, who refused to divulge her full identity.