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South Africa

Rhodes University agrees to some demands of students protesting against sexual assaults

Protests began on Sunday after a list of alleged campus rapists was leaked on social media by a group of students who accuse the university of poor management when it comes to reporting rape on campus.

A number of protests have taken place at universities across South Africa over the past year.
A number of protests have taken place at universities across South Africa over the past year. Dfmalan/Wikimedia Commons
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After four days of campus protests, the university on Thursday agreed to some, but not all the demands made by students who have been protesting what they see as the school's mishandling of reporting sexual assault on campus.

Rhodes University's Student Representative Council says the school has agreed to increase the number of staff in the Harassment Office tasked with handling assault cases, and also designate a task force to investigate the university's current sexual harassment policy.

Olo Rato Mongale, an activist who studies journalism at the university, told RFI that until now there had only been one administrator handling assault cases, often mishandling cases.

“[The sexual harassment officer] is supposed to follow the channels and report the cases to the police. However, the police have just informed us that there have only been two cases [of assault] reported by the university,” said Mongale.

Protests began Sunday night after a list of eleven alleged campus rapists was leaked on Facebook. The hashtag #RUReferenceList, referring to the list of names also began trending on Twitter. According to South African legislation, suspects in sex crimes can only be named after they have pleaded in court.

But student protestors say that they're the victims in this case, and the leak was a result of not having their reports of rape taken seriously by the administration.

“The level of frustration students are experiencing is an indication of how vulnerable they feel on the university campus, and that is definitely a reflection of how what’s going on in the broader society,” Kathleen Dey, the Director of the NGO Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust told RFI.

“[Rape] is one of the most difficult crimes to prove, and that’s why you need specialist services in place to deal with it in sensitively,” she added.

Five arrests have been made since the protests began, with reports of rubber bullets and stun grenades being used by the police. Mongale strongly criticizes the police response as not only excessive, but also contradictory.

“We had have five protestors arrested yesterday for putting up barricades, and yet we have these alleged rapists apparently being put in a safe house," she said.

One of the demands that was not approved was a request that those charged with rape be suspended from their residences.

There have been a series of student protests at South African Universities over the past year.

Recent mass demonstrations included a campaign to block proposed tuition fee hikes, and call to take down a statue of Cecil Rhodes, due to his ties to colonialism.

As these latest protests continue, the university has suspended all classes through Friday, with plans to reopen on Monday.

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