Twenty two year-old Nicholas Nyati is the new NMMU SRC President-Elect and will take over the reigns at DASO on the 1st of January next year.
The Democratic Alliance Student Organisation won 12 out of the 20 seats in the 2016 NMMU Student Representative Council election, held in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
This translates into a 60% victory and means that the DA Student Organisation will once again govern the SRC at Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan University.
Nyati is a keen fencer and footballer, and as a 3rd year Nursing student, established the Nursing society on campus while also serving as DASO's academics officer this year.
"Going into next year, my main priority will be my students and how we are going to take NMMU forward. I believe that i will be able to cope with my academics and SRC. They go hand in hand. I want to graduate, but also want my brothers and sisters to graduate in record time" he said.
Nyati says the message of the students in Wednesday's elections was clear - they want a student representative body steeped in good service and good governance.
"In less than 5 months we have achieved 85% of manifesto. That has never been done by any SRC. We have managed to raise R4.8 million to clear student debt. We are consulting with students to ask them about their "bread and butter" issue we tend on tackling" he added.
DASO won seven of the central portfolio seats, the South African Student Congress (SASCO) five and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) a single seat, according to the results announced early today by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
In addition, DASO won all eight seats in the Oppidani Council, the seat for the International Office for Education as well as four of the university's seven faculty seats. SASCO representatives were elected to the other three faculties.
The 6942 votes cast by students represents 34.7% voter turnout of the NMMU student body. This is an increase of than 4% on last year's election, and a 12% increase since the 2013 election.
