Students demand alleged sex pest at Unisa axed
STUDENTS and political parties have rallied behind the call by Unisa’s SRC for the immediate dismissal of a student leader accused of sexual harassment.
Last week, the SRC called for the speedy resolution of investigations into allegations of sexual harassment against the leader.
The students protested at the Muckleneuk Campus yesterday after a march organised by the Unisa Law Students Association.
They gathered at the university's Sunnyside Campus and made their way to the main campus to hand over a memorandum of demands to the Dean of Student Affairs.
The handful of students included representatives from the Tshwane University of Technology, Sefakho Makgatho Health Sciences University, University of Pretoria and different structures within the Unisa student leadership.
Secretary-general of the SRC at Unisa, Shatadi Phoshoko, said they decided to rally behind the victimised student, putting aside their political affiliations and differences.
Phoshoko said that as leaders, they could not stand by while others were looking to silence a woman for standing up for her rights or try to dismiss the issue as not being urgent.
“Men must not see us as subordinates or footnotes or people who do not have the same rights as them.”
Boitumelo Thage, a gender activist and member of the ANC Youth League in Tshwane, said all that they wanted was for the alleged perpetrator to be suspended with immediate effect.
He said students did not want an accused sexual harasser among them.
They also wanted the university to be a safe space for all women.
Thage said they wanted the leader suspended pending the outcome of the investigation by the university.
According to him, the matter had been brought to the university’s attention in July.
She added that students would also be in court on November 15 to support the alleged victim and see to it that the suspect be formally charged.
Nolwazi Manzini, the convener of the Young Women’s Desk at the University of Pretoria, pleaded with the Unisa management to show that it took a firm stance against the abuse and violation of women.
“Management, please take a stand against this scourge.
“We’re losing hope. If you, as our parents, can’t protect us, who will?”
Unisa Dean of Students, Dr Olwethu Sipuka, accepted the memorandum of demands and pleaded with students to allow university management time to follow due process in dealing with the matter.
Sipuka said even though the university had a zero-tolerance policy towards gender-based violence, as things stood, the university could not suspend the student leader without anyone following due processes.
However, realising the urgency of the matter and taking heed of incidents such as the killing of 23-yearold Fort Hare University student Nosicelo Mtebeni, he said the university management had decided to hold an urgent disciplinary meeting regarding the matter, instead of waiting for the scheduled meeting due to be held on November 15.
Sipuka said the university management would meet in the afternoon and provide the registrar with the necessary advice and communicate the decision to the students.
The students, however, rejected the call for patience and gave the Unisa until today to suspend the suspect or face a shutdown of all of its nine campuses.