Pretoria - The Students Representative Council (SRC) at Unisa has demanded that the university speed up and conclude investigations into allegations of sexual harassment against one of its members.
It accused the university of failing to take swift action regarding sexual harassment, taking into consideration the prevalence and seriousness of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country.
General-secretary Shatadi Phoshoko said they were disturbed by the allegations levelled against a student leader earlier this year.
Phoshoko said their office had received the formal complaint against the leader, and a resignation letter from the complainant.
However, Phoshoko said, the resignation was rejected by the members’ political structure.
The SRC said it was dismayed that the internal university investigation, started on June 29, had not yet been concluded.
“We urge the university to speedily conclude the matter so that normal operations of the structure can continue, and also afford the affected parties support and all due fairness.
“The sexual harassment allegations against the student leader, which have since been alleged by two women and have been on
different media platforms, including the Unisa social media pages, affects the image, integrity and reliability of the SRC structure.”
In July, Unisa asked for time and space to adequately investigate and deal with the allegations against the student leader.
The university said that it viewed sexual harassment as a serious issue that had to be responded to promptly.
Unisa said that there were planned meetings between management and the SRC owing to the fact that the complaint was initially reported through the student structure.
The university said the matter had been reported to the relevant law enforcement agencies as well as to the Office of the Dean of Students, who initiated the internal process to investigate both complaints.
Following the outcome of the investigations, appropriate steps would then be implemented.
“The university will ensure that the rights and dignity of the affected parties are safeguarded throughout this process and that this matter is attended to and concluded as speedily as possible.
“The university will also afford the necessary space and respect to the external process being handled by the SAPS in relation to the sexual harassment complaint and will co-operate with this investigation should it be required to do so,” the university said at the time.
Unisa has not responded to the calls to fast-track the investigations.
Pretoria News