Rhodes University has appointed its first Harassment and Discrimination Manager, responsible for transformation, advocacy and raising awareness about harassment, discrimination, sexual assault and violence.
Dr Zethu Mkhize will now be in charge of the co-ordination of all related complaints and the development and monitoring of related policies, programmes and training.
The creation of the post was recommended by the Sexual Violence Task Team at Rhodes University, which was set up in 2016 to explore how a counter-culture to rape culture could be instilled among students at the university.
That year, the university was brought to a standstill when students protested over the Rhodes University Reference List (#RUReferenceList), which named suspected male student rapists on campus.
Mkhize took up her role at the university on September 10. “My role is to provide a safe haven for those who have been wronged and to advise them about options going forward. In such situations, I assess not only what might have happened, but how the person feels and thinks about the situation,” she said.
Mkhize has a PhD from Unisa, where she researched the impact of social work in a child-headed household. She has a Master’s degree from the University of Zululand, where she lectured for a number of years and was the project manager of the university’s HIV and Aids project.
She gained extensive experience in dealing with students when she was dean of students at the university until 2015.
Mkhize said she felt that students at Rhodes were generally assertive and articulate. “This will greatly help with facilitating the consultative sessions in relation to the refinement of processes,” she said.
Mkhize has trained auxiliary social workers and has played an active role in the empowering women. She has worked with abused women, orphaned and vulnerable children, grandmothers raising their grandchildren, people living with HIV/Aids, Aids counsellors and people with disabilities.
“My expertise relates to being responsive to the psychosocial needs of individuals and any challenge that might interfere with their social functioning. Harassment and discrimination are two phenomena that upset a person’s rhythm of life within their living spaces. It is therefore critical that intervention be offered immediately,” Mkhize said.
Her vision is to see harassment, discrimination, sexual assault and violence-referral processes within the university being more clearly defined. “I would like to see the tasks of the significant role-players delineated and... these clearly communicated to the entire institution,” she said.
Rhodes University vice-chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela said the institution was looking forward to Mkhize’s positive contribution in strengthening its programme against sexual and gender-based violence.