Deputy minister of higher education and training Buti Manamela was ordered off the stage by EFF members at the Vaal University of Technology in Vanderbijlpark yesterday.

Manamela had arrived with a bus full of celebrities, including popular TV actors for the manifesto launch event held ahead of today's student representative council elections.

After arriving with the likes of Uzalo actor TK Dlamini,
Isibaya's Abdul Khoza and Rhythm City's Mduduzi Mabaso, Manamela ascended onto the stage only to be confronted by angry EFF student command (EFFsc) leaders ordering him off the stage.

Manamela downplayed the incident as a misunderstanding and said security at the university had mistakenly led his entourage to an area they were not supposed to be at.

Security was called to remove the EFF's student command members away from stage to give way to independent candidates to also deliver their pre-election promises to students.

Students from different political parties who filled the ampitheatre tried to drown each other out through singing.

Some students wearing Sasco T-shirts were seen changing their T-shirts and revealing EFF T-shirts.

On the other hand, members of the EFFsc were seen tearing apart a yellow T-shirt and started using it as a cleaning rug, much to the delight of their peers.

Speaker after speaker took to the podium to articulate what their political organisations would do for students.

EFFsc promised students free WiFi and that merit bursaries to be increased from R5,000 to R10,000. They said there would be generators and water tanks in all residences.

Sasco, said they have always been on the forefront fighting for the rights of students, promised to expose corruption within the institution and that racist lecturers would be attended to.

Question Shivambu, 23, a first-year IT student, was unambiguous about his choice as he said he was putting his hope on EFFsc.

"I have hope that they will be able to organise funding for B-Tech students," he said.

Another student, Michelle Maluma, 21, said EFFsc really helped the students with registration at the beginning of the year. Early this year, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg delivered an order stating that SRC elections be rerun before April 1.

SRC elections which were held in September were called off following some disruptions.

Acting director of student life and governance, Vumile Nomanyama, confirmed that student elections failed to take place last year. "Unfortunately I won't dwell too much on that. However, today we are having a manifesto launch. The elections will take place on Thursday (today) and Friday,"