EFF and Sasco members threw stones at one another when Julius Malema addressed his party’s supporters at the Tshwane University of Technology on Wednesday.

Police and security at the institution’s Pretoria West campus intervened and restored order.

South African Students Congress (Sasco) members said Malema’s presence would not help the EFF win the SRC election, to be held on Thursday.

“They felt they needed to bring Malema as a celebrity of some sort so that he must come here and get them votes,” said Noluthando Mazibuko, an SRC and Sasco member.

“Last year, we beat them with 2 000 votes. They can’t do anything. We are not worried. You can’t say you’re buying students with T-shirts. We’ve been leading this campus ever since TUT was founded.”

An EFF supporter said Malema’s presence on campus had helped them and that Sasco had tried to distract them from listening to their commander-in-chief.

“The police did not solve anything. Now is the time for the EFF to win the elections. We have no doubt our numbers are growing every day,” said second-year student Collins Tshabalala.

Tshabalala said the EFF’s election campaign had been about providing free education and that this would win Sasco members over.

Sasco had been in power for years, but there had been no change on campus. The biggest issue facing students was a lack of funding.

“Some of them cannot pay their fees and yet Sasco is not providing them with NSFAS. That is why we want free education,” he said, referring to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. News24