NMMU march on gender violence
YOUNG men and women embarked on a gender-based violence march around NMMU yesterday.
At least 500 students, mostly women, marched from the north to south campus to raise awareness about the scourge.
A banner with the heading #wearenotsafe was circulated around campus all week collecting signatures.
It attracted interest from many students and university organisations, with an estimated 5 000 signatures already secured.
South African Students Congress NMMU secretary Sonwabiso Mdani said the march was aimed at focusing on the injustices faced by women on a daily basis and to ensure that women were seen as equal to men.
He said it was unacceptable for students to live in fear of being raped or attacked when they should be focused on obtaining a good education.
The group handed over a memorandum to university management calling for a restructuring of the policies relating to sexual and gender-based violence.
It also called for increased police visibility on campus as well as around other student residences and additional training for campus security on how to deal with incidents of this nature.
NMMU dean of students Luthando Jack accepted the memorandum on behalf of university management.
Jack said students, campus security, police and the Summerstrand community had formed an organisation called the Summerstrand Crime community.
He said the organisation was formed with a mandate to deal with crime in the area.
The university would respond in full to the memorandum in due course.