Expelled Rhodes student loses high court bid
Dyantyi says she feels 'numb' by judgment
Expelled Rhodes University student Yolanda Dyantyi has lost her high court bid to set aside the university’s decision to convict her of assault, kidnapping and other charges during antirape protests on campus.
Dyantyi was rusticated in 2017 after she was found guilty in a disciplinary hearing of kidnapping, assault, insubordination and defamation during the so-called Rhodes Reference List protests in 2016.
She resorted to the high court in Makhanda to have both her disciplinary conviction and permanent exclusion from the university set aside.
She also asked the court to review and set aside the university’s refusal to entertain an internal review of the decision to convict and exclude her.
It was argued on her behalf that she had been denied legal representation at her hearing and this had affected her right to a procedurally fair hearing.
She said the evidence against her did not support the charges and the sanction was inappropriate.
Her disciplinary hearing followed months of protest at the university during which a list was compiled with the names of Rhodes students it said had sexually assaulted women.
The #RhodesReferenceList was widely shared on social media.
According to court papers, some of the men named on the list were hounded out of their residences by groups of students led by, among others, Dyantyi, and some were assaulted, spat on, threatened with necklacing and held against their will.
Judge Zamani Nhlangulela rejected Dyantyi’s contention that she had not been represented at her hearing.
He said when it began in June 2017 she had four lawyers with her, including a senior counsel.
After nine sittings the matter was postponed on October 11 to a sitting in late October and further sittings in early November.
Two members of her legal team had not been available for these dates and asked that the matter be postponed to November 29. This was refused.
Dyantyi and her legal team decided not to participate further in the disciplinary hearing.
“Consequently, the hearing proceeded in their absence, until it was concluded with a verdict and a sanction that are now being impugned ... on the broad basis that her right to fair administrative action was breached.”
Nhlangulela also dismissed allegations that the proctor in the matter, Wayne Hutchinson, had been biased.
The judge ruled that the proctor’s decisions were rationally connected to the evidence.
Nhlangulela condemned the manner in which Dyantyi had conducted herself throughout her litigation against Rhodes University starting in the disciplinary tribunal, the high court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.
He was referring to Dyantyi’s unsuccessful appeals all the way to the Concourt against an interdict brought against her by Rhodes to prohibit her from any further violent action during the protest.
Nhlangulela labelled her litigation as “evidently frivolous and vexatious” and ordered her to pay the costs of her failed application.
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute (Seri) which represented Dyantyi throughout on Wednesday said it intended taking the judgment on appeal.
Executive director Nomzamo Zondo said the judge had not adequately dealt with the fact that the university’s refusal to grant her a postponement had effectively denied her legal representation.
“All she wants is an opportunity to tell her side of the story.
“She has never had that.” Dyantyi posted on social media that she felt “crushed and numb” by the judgment.
While Rhodes distributed the outcome of the case, it did not comment directly on it.
However, it indicated in a statement that it would continue to treat seriously and urgently all cases involving sexual or gender-based violence.
“Several students have, in the last three years, been permanently excluded for offences involving sexual violence.
“These are in the public record.
The university recognises and supports the right to peaceful protest, but will not condone serious violent offences in furtherance of such protest,” it said.