THE SA Students Congress wants the complete overhaul of the University of Free State council.

THE SA Students Congress wants the complete overhaul of the University of Free State council.

This after the university announced on Friday that high court judge Faan Hancke had been replaced by Ian van der Merwe, another high court judge, as chairperson of the council.

Van der Merwe is an alumnus of UFS and has been a member of the council since March 2007.

Current university chancellor Franklin Sonn will retire on December 31. Hancke's term also expires at the same time. Sonn has been chancellor since February 2003, while Hancke has been chairperson of the council since June 2001.

The university's rector and vice-chancellor, Professor Jonathan Jansen, will act as interim chancellor.

Sasco deputy chairperson Chabana Chabana said: "We want a complete overhaul of the council. We had no confidence in Hancke on matters of transformation. The current council does not represent the demographics of our country."

Spokesperson for the university Lacea Loader said Hancke's term had expired and had nothing to do with Cosatu's march on Saturday.

At least 300 Cosatu members had marched through Bloemfontein's city centre demanding that Hancke and Jansen should step down.

The council's new members are Pule Makgoe, Free State education MEC Ndaba Ntsele and Willem Louw, Pamodzi Group's CEO and managing director of Sasol Technology.

Cosatu's provincial secretary Sam Mashinini said they were angry that Jansen had dropped the charges against the Reitz Four "before justice was done". Four former Reitz hostel students had filmed an "initiation" of five black staff members into hostel activities in 2007.

The workers, four women and a man, were seen on their hands and knees eating food which had been urinated into by a white student.