SRC accuses Saleshando of betrayal
Baboki Kayawe | Tuesday November 12, 2013 15:58
SRC president, Kago Mokotedi said on Friday that the Gaborone Central MP is pretending that nothing is amiss at UB when student leaders are being harassed and persecuted.
Mokotedi claims that SRC leaders were suspended by UB management after they attended a meeting at the university organised by Saleshando on August 21 this year. The SRC says that the meeting was convened by the MP to get an update after students boycotted classes over book allowances.
Mokotedi said it is disturbing that the MP has kept quiet 'and buried his head in the sand' when the students are suffering over a meeting he called.
'When the leadership (student), attend such a meeting on campus it attracts a one year suspension. Is this a coincidence or conspiracy?' he asked rhetorically.
'But he (Saleshando) was ready to gain political mileage from the crisis, opportunistic tendency at its best,' he added. The student leaders have vowed to deny Saleshando another political term in the impending national elections.
But Saleshando has denied the student's allegations and said he never convened a meeting at UB. 'I have never convened a meeting at UB, not in the last nine years since I became MP,' he told Mmegi. He said it is many years since the UB management allowed any MP to address meetings at the university. Hence it is untrue that he organised a meeting at UB in August. He accused Mokotedi of campaigning for his political masters.
He said he was once called to a meeting by the SRC at UB. After the meeting, he was asked to say a word to the group of about 100 students.
In August, UB students engaged in class boycotts demanding to be given all their book allowances in cash, the re-introduction of supplementary examinations and the liberty to buy books and learning material elsewhere. The students also protest against appointments of the UB Council. After the boycott, the Department of Tertiary Education Financing withdrew sponsorship of some students but was made to eat humble pie when the High Court overturned the decision.
Meanwhile, authorities at UB have denied that SRC leaders have been suspended.