University bans talent contest

WRONG NOTE: STUDENTS FLAUNT INSULTING POSTERS

Virginia Keppler

The University of Pretoria’s (UP) annual Serrie event will be cancelled for the rest of the year after students held up placards with derogatory and insulting messages aimed at women during the singing and dancing finals on Tuesday night.

This happened hours after female students took part in a topless protest on the Hatfield campus of the university against rape and sexual violence on campus.

Candice Jooste, UP spokesperson, said they welcomed the decision by the TuksRes sub-council to withdraw residences from the final of the Serrie competition.

“This will send a clear message that derogatory and offensive behaviour against women will not be tolerated as it does not form part of the university’s values. Appropriate steps will be taken against those found guilty,” Jooste said.

She said they were looking forward to working with the students to create greater awareness of the different forms of abuse.

The university said it would suspend the students involved.

Grace Maphakela, from the movement against rape and sexual harassment on the UP campus, said, as women, they decided that Serrie should be cancelled indefinitely until they have met stakeholders to decide what the appropriate Serrie would look like.

AfriForum Youth’s Tuks coordinator Jaco Grobbelaar said the decision “punishes those students who have worked hard to participate in a constructive student tradition, instead of a few individuals who cannot behave themselves”. –

Picture: AFP Davi de Oliveira Moreira, known as Sereio (merman in Portuguese), wears a mermaid’s tail at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, recently. He is part of a growing mermaid craze in Brazil.