On 27 October 2015 the Executive of the University agreed to a proposal by the Department of Student Affairs to postpone the re-election of the SRC President and Deputy President (in line with the postponement of academic activities) until 4 November 2015, subject to certain provisions. These provisions included, amongst others, that provision should be made for students in the Faculty of Health Sciences to participate in the re-election by means of an electronic voting system.

It has, however, come to the University’s attention that a large number of students in the Faculty of Health Sciences will not be able to participate in the re-election as they have completed their academic programme for the year. In addition, the secure electronic voting system is not in place as yet to accommodate them.

In terms of the Higher Education Act and the Statute of the University of Pretoria, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal is responsible for the management and administration of the University. This implicitly means that should issues come to her attention that has the possibility of impacting on the good management of the institution, she has the inherent responsibility to ensure, for example, that during the SRC elections certain members of the student body are not disenfranchised.

After consultation with the Vice-Principal responsible for Student Affairs and the Registrar, the Executive decided to defer the re-election of the SRC President and Deputy President to a suitable date early in 2016.