Jesse Griesel, a second year University of Cape Town student recently sparked outrage after putting herself forward to be a candidate for the EFF in the Student Representative Council (SRC) elections at the university.
besties I’m doing a thing! I have decided to run as an SRC candidate for the 2021/2022 term. I can’t begin to describe my excitement at the idea of serving the students at uct ❤️ I’d be ever so grateful for your sharing and interacting with my post ??? eeek ok bye pic.twitter.com/HCpECfoEfB
— jes (@JesseGriesel) September 28, 2021
The 19-year-old white nominee received support from a few high-profile politicians, coupled with a negative outpouring from social media users, who brought race to the forefront of the discussion.
@holypathway asked the burning question: “Are you aware that should the EFF comes into power it will get rid of the whites and take over their wealth and businesses?” while @JustXavierB said “Jesse is in a cocoon of candy floss privilege and rainbow dreams. Hasn’t even contributed her first PAYE cheque to the nation, but she’s an expert on social repair.”
Since then, Griesel received the most votes amongst the EFF candidates after the SRC’s provisional results were released, bagging a total of 2 738.
Please have a look at the Provisional Results of the 2021 SRC elections. Objections must be sent to [email protected] before 12pm on Tuesday, 12 October 2021. pic.twitter.com/r7nhJqdLRp
— UCT SRC & Faculty Council Elections (@UCTSRCElections) October 11, 2021
Even though she came second to independent candidate, Tebogo Mabusela, the EFF still dominated the results, which saw them claim a consecutive victory in office with eight successful nominees out of 15 representing the red berets.
The voter turnout amounted to 7 549 voters which equates to a 27.7% eligible student population. “Based on the Election Regulations, an election poll of 25% of all students is required for the SRC to be constituted.”
The EFFSC welcomed this decision:
UCT PROVISIONAL RESULTS:
EFFSC: 8 seats
SASCO: 0 seats
INDEPENDENTS: 7 seatsWe thank the students of UCT for choosing the EFFSC to serve students in the 2022 SRC❤️??#Ayikhale #SizofunaNgenkani pic.twitter.com/urjbSZtqam
— EFFSC UCT (@EFFSC_UCT) October 12, 2021
Griesel acknowledged the provisional results on her social media:
Here are your numbers @ uct ?
thanks for voting, you’ve got an extremely enthusiastic set of incomings ? https://t.co/eOoY7JRYWi— jes (@JesseGriesel) October 11, 2021
But Griesel’s name has been floating around elsewhere after branding Democratic Alliance leader, John Steenhuisen a ‘mediocre white man’ over his party’s controversial posters in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal.
The other issue here is that this so called diverse party, black individuals standing in the background, is letting this mediocre white man be the only voice. Surely, just for PR you see how unstrategic this is? And STILL you can’t bring even pretend to endorse other members? https://t.co/fXsHcmA7z5
— jes (@JesseGriesel) October 6, 2021
The DA came under fire for the posters, which read: “The ANC calls you racists, the DA calls you heroes”.
Also read:
DA hands over petition for Afrikaans to be declared an indigenous language
Picture: Twitter / @JesseGriesel