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RESEARCH INDABA ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (GBV)

IN HIGHER EDUCATION:

Crafting trends, patterns and awareness of interventions to combat GBV held on 8-9 March 2023 at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT)

INTRODUCTION

A research indaba on gender-based violence in higher education was convened at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology on 8-9 March 2023 bringing together academics, managers in the sector, civil-society experts and government representatives to share lessons, strategies, interventions, practices and research agendas in an effort to combat gender-based violence (GBV).

In particular, the meeting addressed how to:

• Enhance and integrate multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration on gender equality and women’s empowerment to combat GBV in higher education;

• Change the behaviour and social norms that can drive GBV;

• Enhance sustainable, survivor-c entred response, care and support services for students and staff;

• Provide efficient, safe and responsive protection against GBV on campus;

• Foster evidence-based and integrated research on the issue of GBV; and

• Support the development of GBV interventions in response to existing social problems in order to bring about change.

1. SETTING THE AGENDA AND CENTERING GBV AS A TOOL FOR ACHIEVING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS) 1

1.1 Opening address

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the present meeting will seek to share lessons, strategies and practices and a research agenda on the issue of gender-based violence. In particular, the goal is to integrate and coordinate efforts among multiple stakeholders to address the scourge of GBV and to empower women at CPUT and in higher education more broadly.

In February 2022, Tshwane University of Technology student Ntokozo Xaba, 23, was stabbed to death at a residence in Pretoria, allegedly by her boyfriend. In July 2022, Mangosuthu University student Xolile Mbatha, 23, was stabbed to death by her boyfriend at an off-campus residence in Durban. In August 2021, a law student at the University of Fort Hare, Nosicelo Mtebeni, 21, was murdered and dismembered by her boyfriend at student digs in East London. The picture is grim.

In the quest for sustainable solutions to the problem, the present research indaba will consider the need to address social norms, identifying the key drivers of GBV and how to counter these; as well as the need to establish sustainable and survivor-centred responses and care and support services

1 This section and the next are based on addresses and discussions that were moderated by Brightness Mangolothi, Higher Education Resource Services-South Africa (HERS-SA).

2 This section is based on an address delivered by Professor Chris Nhlapo, Vice-Chancellor, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) at the research indaba on gender-based violence.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo with Mr Buti Manamela Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (2023) leading the GBV research Indaba.

for students and staff. It will also consider how to deploy evidencebased research effectively and the importance of proper monitoring and evaluation of the efforts that are undertaken to combat sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

There is a saying in South Africa: “You strike a woman, you strike a rock”. In this spirit and to promote support for women, this meeting will present stories about women who changed the world and the outcomes of gender-studies research.

The university undertakes its mission within the context of South Africa’s progressive Constitution which envisions a “society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights”. The Constitution offers a blueprint to transform social relations towards equality and democracy. The document’s commitment to social justice is non-negotiable. However, present indicators of social wellbeing show that the country is far from the ideal state envisioned in the Constitution.

The United Nations (UN) started celebrating International Women’s Day as an annual event on 8 March, 1975, with the General Assembly ratifying the commemoration two years later. However, men have still to cross the Rubicon and offer their full support to women struggling for equal rights. For example, although there were widespread protests by women when the United States (US) Supreme Court overturned women’s right to bodily autonomy in June 2022, few men joined the demonstrations. More broadly, the reality remains that women in leadership positions are more likely to advocate for the disenfranchised than their male peers.

The Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation has developed a policy framework for addressing GBV in the post-school system. In an effort to give effect to this policy and steer the strategy on the issue, CPUT has established a high-level gender-based violence committee chaired by the Vice-Chancellor with the support of the executive management. The university has adopted a posture of zero tolerance towards SGBV. The GBV committee seeks to implement this approach through activities to promote: effective accountability, coordination and leadership; prevention, rebuilding and social cohesion; justice, safety and protection; economic empowerment; and research and information management.

Looking to the future, CPUT has invested heavily in funding female students who have excelled academically and more broadly as students so that they can undertake Master’s and doctoral studies. This support, which is provided through the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Awards, aims to develop the next generation of academics as part of national transformation efforts, with the particular goal of ensuring that the majority of the future professoriate at the university are women. In this regard, there are already a number of notable instances of female academics at CPUT being acknowledged nationally for their contributions in the ﬁelds of transformation and the social and digital sciences.

Change can be difﬁcult to implement, but the end results make the hardship worthwhile; and the prospects of success provide an important source of motivation. In this regard, as the examples of strong women in areas of the world ravaged by conﬂicts and natural disasters provide an inspiration on International Women’s Day, it should be acknowledged that advocacy for, and the achievement of, women’s rights does not come at the expense of men, but rather fosters greater progress and the upliftment of future generations. Accordingly, it is important, closer to home, to identify the ways in which women are being under-represented, including in professional spaces, and how such underrepresentation may be reversed.

International Women’s Day is dedicated to celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women and enhancing awareness of the ongoing struggle for gender equality. It is also a call to action to address the need for gender parity with urgency and through solidarity.

In this context, CPUT has worked closely with a number of partners, including Higher Education Resource Services-South Africa (HERS-SA), adopting a multi-stakeholder approach to address the scourge of GBV, which affects all genders. Campus protection services (CPS) staff attended the first training related to sexual offences organised by the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) with the local Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC). More than 500 CPS staff, including a number of managers, were trained over five months. The university continues to work closely with the Thuthuzela Care Centre and the police responsible for family-violence, child-protection and sexual-offence cases at Kuils River, which has answered calls for help. CPUT has also coordinated closely with, and received significant support from, the Department of Social Development (DSD), the Department of Health, and the higher-education health committee at Universities South Africa (USAf).

Against the background of a past in which women have been exploited and marginalised in South Africa, there is now a need to restore women to history and to support them – which is a key goal for CPUT. At the same time, it should be acknowledged that nothing comes from nothing – and the reality is that great efforts and signiﬁcant sacriﬁces will be required to combat GBV and to realise the values of “oneness” and “smartness” at CPUT, in line with the university’s vision of itself.

1.2 Locating higher education in relation to GBV and the SDGs

Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN in 2015; and it is worth bearing these goals in mind when addressing the challenge of GBV and femicide. Under the SDGs, states committed to consuming the earth in a responsible way, so that humans reproduce both themselves and the planet’s natural goodness. Under the goals, there is an obligation to preserve life on land and under water. The obligation has clear gender dimensions. For example, a case of African women exchanging sexual favours for ﬁsh amid mounting contestation over shrinking natural resources received broad media attention.

Under the SDGs, there has been a renewed focus on the provision of alternative energies: Goal 7 promotes “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. South Africa’s

3 This section is based on an address delivered by Professor Mzikazi Nduna, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Fort Hare, at the research indaba.

electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has said he will focus on this. Again, there are clear gender dimensions. Women use energy in the domestic space more than men – women wake up to switch on the light and warm the water to wash the children for school and prepare the men for work. They launder and iron – and are the ﬁrst to feel the pinch of loadshedding, of not having power in the house, which is a problem that men feel mainly in public spaces, such as at work. Women are the ones who need access to affordable, clean sources of energy rather than the parafﬁn and wood that they are otherwise obliged to use.

SDG 6 promotes access to “clean water and sanitation for all”. This is particularly important for women who are over-represented in the unpaid work of social reproduction. The need for clean water and sanitation was felt keenly under Covid-19. Pandemics can be prevented through access to clean water and sanitation. Meanwhile, women, who are the ones who care for the sick, were the most affected under Covid-19 – both in the domestic sphere and in the professional sphere, as nurses. Many nurses died during the pandemic.

More broadly the challenges that the SDGS are supposed to address and which affect women disproportionately have been exacerbated under climate change.

Against this background, higher education has a crucial role to play, including in relation to its function of producing graduates in the ﬁeld of technology. University graduates are responsible for producing the innovations and infrastructure that shape society. If women are excluded from this ﬁeld of activity, then, for example, there will be no-one to design gender-neutral and gender-inclusive toilets that may be readily accessed by women – which is a problem at the meeting hall where the present research indaba is being held.

In general, institutions of higher learning have an obligation to support the provision of decent work and economic growth across society and should forge curricula to enable young people to contribute to creating such a society when they graduate. In this way, appropriate curricula may produce sustainable cities and communities.

At present, however, gender non-conforming people, including members of the LGBTQI+ community, face prejudice in social spaces. Women are associated with certain ways of working, dressing and talking – when people present themselves in other, gender non-conforming ways in the community, it runs contrary to what is expected of them. In this context, communities are not safe spaces, as may be seen by the high rates of femicide and violence against women and gender non-conforming individuals, including, in some cases, men. Against this background, there is a clear need to produce sustainable, just and peaceful institutions and cities.

Higher education institutions have an important role to play in this work, including in relation to addressing poverty and hunger. Effective strategies to achieve a reduction in poverty and hunger can produce the conditions required to foster peace and social justice and the establishment of places where there is health and well-being for all – as sought by SDG 3 – and authentic class and gender equality – as sought by SDG 5.

As part of such efforts, it is important to foster equitable institutions and also to forge partnerships across the sector to strengthen the response to GBV within higher education.

In July 2020, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) issued a “Policy Framework to Address GBV in the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) System”, which centred on the six pillars that have informed CPUT’s own approach: accountability, coordination and leadership;

prevention and rebuilding social cohesion; justice, safety and protection; response, care, support and healing; economic power; and research and information management. CPUT has welcomed this framework and the department’s intervention which aims to promote nation-building and foster the convergence of shared values and goals across the sector.

A genuinely multicultural society should uphold diversity and safety for all. In this context, cultures and traditions can, at times, be used to justify practices that border on or entail harassment and violence at the interpersonal level, as well as at the structural or institutional level. Such oppression can become entrenched in institutions if supported by policy. It can also prevail at institutions which have failed to establish speciﬁc policies to counter oppression even though they say they oppose it.

For example, in the absence of proactive policies in academia to provide or pay for child-minding, lactating mothers are forced to choose between their enacting their reproductive rights to nurture by breast-feeding their new-born children or grasping opportunities to advance their careers – such as through attendance at important conferences. In other words, unless provision is made for child-minding in terms of support, transport and facilities for women who have recently given birth, they can be placed at a disadvantage in term of pursuing their careers. The absence of a national policy directive on this issue does not constitute personal violence, but it does foster discrimination.

Similarly, the gender pay gap in academia – which is clear in terms of the salaries paid at the different levels, with men generally occupying more senior positions – is a product of structural discrimination. In this case, the problem is that women who have had a number of babies and have had to take maternity leave may not be able to ascend from lecturer to professor as readily as their male peers. While engaging in unpaid social reproduction services, these women do not have as much time to produce their PhDs and publish the papers on which career progression depends. In this way they are punished for their “choice” to have a family rather than rewarded for their contribution to society. Such is not the basis for equal opportunity.

Discrimination is also present in the present system for offering academics a sabbatical after six years of service. For many women, as well as some men, such years of service may be difﬁcult to accrue given their social-reproduction and other family and community responsibilities. In addition to taking maternity leave, many women, as the primary carers in their families and communities, are obliged to take paid and unpaid family responsibility leave, particularly as they grow older and the extent of their social obligations expands.

In this context, there is a need to consider whether the current conditions that have to be met in order to be eligible for family responsibility leave in cases of birth and death are not prejudicial. Many children in South Africa are not reared by their biological parents but by other men and women. However, these carers may not qualify for paid family responsibility leave; and their decision to take time off to care for others may be deemed a matter of personal choice, which disqualiﬁes them from beneﬁts accrued as a result of length of service. This is a prejudicial arrangement that fails to address the multicultural nature of South African society.

Multi-culturalism is a virtue that should be adopted by higher education not only in its human resources practices, but also as a means of enabling people to liberate themselves from toxic and oppressive

aspects of their own cultures – while at the same time acknowledging the importance and value of diverse cultural experiences. The aim should be to support individuals in their efforts to develop their own cultures, while inculcating an understanding of the importance of respecting and understanding the value of other cultures. In this regard, it should be noted that cultural exclusiveness hinders proper education. A multi-cultural approach is crucial given that the graduates from across the country’s higher education system are being selected as elites to lead a single, multi-cultural society, and as professionals who will compete in a single marketplace for jobs. Given this function of the post-school sector, it is important to address inequities in the higher education system that can lead to public and other funds being deployed to advance the interests of certain groups or to favour certain institutions – such as the research-intensive universities over the universities of technologies and the technical and vocational education and training colleges (TVETs).

As part of the efforts to eradicate inequities in the system, there is a need to ensure that the issues of gender inequality and GBV are addressed in a comprehensive way across the sector – in particular, to ensure that all the institutions receiving public funding should be equipped with similar instruments and GBV policies in line with national directives, and that all initiatives to combat GBV should be properly funded. Only in this way can the graduates who are produced across the system share a common set of values in relation to gender equality and GBV.

In this regard, it is important to note that intersectional factors can have a signiﬁcant impact on efforts to address gender equality and GBV in any given institution. Students arrive at a university bringing their own norms and entrenched values. These can affect their new institution and its efforts, including the orientation process, and can have a great inﬂuence within the student body. Accordingly, the interventions launched by a particular university need to address these social norms if they are to prove effective.

The behaviour of staff at higher education institutions also is shaped by norms, which can cause problems, particularly in relation to the administration of justice. For example, the notion that behaviour is best managed through internal systems, such as misconduct hearings, can lead to inappropriate outcomes in cases of alleged sexual harassment and GBV – given that, under the law, rape suspects should be tried in court not at disciplinary hearings. In this context, higher education institution should consider producing harmonised policies that can be applied across the sector so that alleged perpetrators are held to account and cannot slip from one site of higher learning to another with impunity.

In a similar vein, a policy should be put in place to hold international students accountable for their actions at South African institutions, even after they have left the country. Although internationalisation should be and is promoted as a matter of principle, it can bring challenges in terms of the diverse normative discourses on gender and sexuality across the continent and the ways in which these can find legal expression in the form of widely varying national dispensations governing the rights of women and members of the LGBTQI+ community. Against this background, students from other countries who have been accused of sexual harassment or GBV may evade accountability in South Africa, where the wheels of justice can turn quite slowly; and they may then refuse to return to answer the accusations against them once they have left the country (even though they may be quite quick to return to collect their certificates at graduation). One response to this could be to withhold their certificates until they have faced justice.

2. GBV INTERVENTIONS AND INTERSECTIONALITY

2.1 Enhancing girls’ economic empowerment to eradicate GBV: CPUT’s flagship science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) projects 4

CPUT’s mission is to foster scientiﬁc, technological, engineering and mathematical capabilities in support of national economic and human development efforts. However, CPUT’s pursuit of its vision of becoming a university guided by the values of “smartness” and “oneness” depends on a ready and inclusive supply of STEM-literate school leavers entering the higher education system.

In this regard, there is, at present, a STEM crisis in the school system – fewer pupils are taking academic maths as a subject for matriculation, while the numbers taking the lower-standard maths literacy as a subject are rising. Part of the problem is that a number of prejudicial views have historically been adopted around the capacity to succeed at maths and in the sciences, such as that these are ﬁelds in which only men or certain racial groups can excel. Under apartheid, racialist views about learning capacity were enforced through a differentiated education system, under which black pupils were taught in under-resourced schools by poorly trained teachers. The legacy of the damage to the national education system wrought during apartheid persists. Only 12% of grade 1 pupils matriculate; matriculation pass rates have dropped; and the uptake of STEM subjects is relatively low.

The current pass rate for maths at matriculation is 30%, which is not high enough. In 2021, the number of matric students enrolling for maths fell 11,000 to 245,000 matric while the number of mathematics literacy enrolments rose more than 9.000 over the same period.

Meanwhile, in terms of gender there is 30-38% uptake of science subjects by young women across the world, and female university students perform particularly well, graduating with a greater percentage of distinctions and cum laudes than their male peers. However, such early academic achievement does not translate into equivalent success in the workplace, with men far outnumbering women in middle and senior management positions in STEM-related industries. In general, women only earn 82% of what men earn.

Encountering structural obstacles to their career progress, women tend to work harder than their male peers in an effort to justify their worth, which can lead to burnout and other forms of trauma. Such inequality harms women’s psyches. In the face of an unequal world and gender discrimination, women can become less assertive. In addition, they may be oppressed through gender stereotypes. Men may decry their displays of emotions as inappropriate. Women may be criticised by men for being too assertive – too selﬁsh and ambitious – or for not being assertive enough, depending on the circumstances. And as a result, their self-esteem may be eroded as they start to doubt themselves and their abilities, which can lead to crises of gender and sexual identity.

Against this background, CPUT has adopted a strategy of seeking to demystify and reconceptualise STEM by contributing to the empowerment of teachers and pupils, particularly girls, with the aim of fostering black excellence and a new generation of learners who can qualify for STEM-related courses and careers. To this end it has launched a number of programmes and initiatives:

• A Vice-Chancellor’s prestigious school project has raised R6 million to support the teaching of STEM subjects, while PhD students are supported through the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestigious Achievers Awards, which has led to a rise in female graduates completing their doctorates on time;

• A “second-chance” programme for pupils has helped girls to improve their matric results. Cofunded by the Education, Training and Development Practices (ETDP) Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA), this programme supports girls so that they can acquire the necessary qualiﬁcation to undertake a tertiary course in a STEM subject, including at CPUT;

• As part of its engagement in National Science Week and with the support of the Department of Science and Technology (DSET), CPUT staff have engaged with Grade 11 and Grade 12 pupils in Beaufort West, Laingsburg and George, encouraging them to pursue STEM subjects and careers at workshops and exhibition stands.

• The university is collaborating with MTN which has agreed to mentor final-year female students in the engineering and applied-sciences faculties so that they can be fast-tracked at the firm, which has identified a lack of senior female managers among its ranks.

• Students from CPUT’s chemistry and physics departments tutor pupils tutor at local schools in Philippi and Crossroads over the weekend. This programme which has reached 1,300 pupils in the university’s catchment area, also provides pupils with access to CPUT laboratories as a space for learning.

• CPUT’s education faculty is training novice teachers in STEM-related subjects in Malmesbury, Cedarberg and Vredenburg;

• A robotics and programming project for pupils, with a particular focus on fostering the skills of girls in this ﬁeld, is being implemented with SETA co-funding. The project seeks to establish a pipeline to educate a cadre of individuals who will be able to work in this emerging technological sector.

In general, CPUT’s efforts to promote STEM education offer girls and young women new paths to economic empowerment that will help them to stand against GBV. They offer greater access to education for girls and women, as well as improved prospects of success in education. Girls and women who have been provided with agency and relevant cognitive and psycho-social tools are less likely to see themselves as victims of circumstance or as mere sex objects, and more likely to see themselves as people with futures – and, as a result, can become role models for the next generation.

2.2 Discussion 5

Maternity leave

At present, maternity is a barrier to women’s progress in their chosen careers. In this respect, maternity leave is too often presented by employers as a beneﬁt, rather than as an employment right. In fact, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997 provides for a statutory minimum of four months’ maternity leave, and some employers may offer longer. Women should campaign for adequate maternity leave on the basis of the Act, and also make it clear that not all pregnancies and births are the same and that it may be necessary to grant longer periods of leave in some cases. Obstetricians need to be engaged in support of this demand.

5 This section is based on a plenary discussion between meeting participants speaking from the ﬂoor and Prof Chris Nhlapo, Prof Mzikazi Nduna and Prof Driekie Hay-Swemmer.

There is discrimination in the human resources (HR) policies of individual universities in relation to maternity leave. For example, such leave may only be granted if the individual has been at a university for at least six months. This kind of policy can inhibit the movement of women among universities in pursuit of their careers. Accordingly, there is a need for a national framework on maternity leave. That would allow for movement within the sector. For example, time served at one university could count towards leave being granted at the next.

Professors as teachers

Pupils’ enthusiasm for science may be fostered by encouraging professors to visit schools and share their passion for their subjects. For example, professors in Japan occasionally teach in schools, as well as on ﬁrst-year courses at universities. In this way, they act as role models, inspiring pupils and students. At present, however, the system is that professors undertake research and hardly teach undergraduates, even though this is the level at which the best lecturers are required. Unfortunately, the implementation of initiatives deploying senior academics to teach pupils and students may be inhibited by the relatively high salary demands of professors which are unlikely to disappear in a system which prioritises proﬁts over people – indicating the need for economic restructuring.

Accommodating students

At present, the number of students attending CPUT, which stands at 108% of the university’s capacity is placing a signiﬁcant strain on the institution’s resources. In an effort to address this, R150 million has been raised to support so-called “missing-middle” students6 who are progressing academically. Furthermore, there is a standing Council resolution that no student who is progressing academically will be excluded. However, the reality is that some students are not progressing at all. For example, there are students who have not passed a single module in two years or more. This poses a problem given the continual demand for residential places from incoming cohorts.

Meanwhile, the university makes every effort to provide decent student accommodation that is conducive to learning. A physical planning committee and a management committee oversee this provision, and CPUT academics have been encouraged to “adopt” residences so that these places are properly monitored and any problems are identiﬁed and addressed as a priority.

The crisis in university accommodation is a national one. It has emerged due to a lack of foresight among national planners, who, despite mounting evidence, failed to anticipate and address the demographic changes wrought by the youth bulge across Africa; and the devastation caused by the HIV/AIDS pandemic which created a large number of parent-less households.

In the context of greater demand for access to higher education, the University of Fort Hare’s campus at Alice is the only one in the country that can accommodate 80% of students – and even in the case of Fort Hare, the university offers no accommodation at its campus in East London. Part of the problem is that universities are not allowed to invest the national grants that they receive as they see fit in an effort to make a profit and thus foster their own institutional sustainability. Instead, they live from hand to mouth and must spend every cent of the grants that they receive or risk a reduction in the annual contribution. Given the national and systemic nature of the financial sustainability challenge, the issue should be addressed jointly by the leaders of the country’s public universities rather than on an individual institutional level. In this regard, it should be noted that while the contributions of students on this issue are valuable, the extent and potential impact of their engagement is limited given that the leadership of the various Student Representative Councils (SRCs) changes from one year to the next.

6 Missing-middle students come from families who earn too little to pay for their university education but too much to qualify for bursaries under the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

Supporting female scholars

National Research Foundation (NRF) ratings determine the level of funding that academics receive for their research. In an effort to ensure that female scholars are rated and rewarded at the same level as their male peers, CPUT established a Women in Research Association which has sought to identify and address circumstances that inhibit women’s progress in academia. The university has also adopted a model for peer-support among female academics which was developed and implemented at Rhodes University. The mechanism, which fostered collaboration among women in an effort to improve their research proposals and grant applications, led to the establishment of a new generation of women scholars at Rhodes.

3. GBV INTERVENTIONS AND INTERSECTIONALITY 7

3.1 GBV against men and boys: A hidden problem 8

Universities mirror society. Accordingly, given South Africa’s history of violence, which is a history that has not been addressed adequately, it follows that there will be violence at the country’s higher education institutions. Much of the present violence is enacted on the basis of people’s identities, in particular in relation to their gender and sexual identities. So, a study was launched at the University of Limpopo to consider the issue of violence against members of the LGBTQI+ communities, and the institutional factors that can foster or mitigate such violence. The ﬁrst round of the study was completed in 2018 at which point a second round was launched. The research has tracked the experience of 12 students who described themselves as gay or lesbian.

In general, the research has identiﬁed a number of critical institutional factors in relation to the prevalence or otherwise of lived experiences of discrimination, including in the form of violence:

• The condition of university residences and the policies governing these places;

• The issue of security at residences particularly in relation to physical access. In this regard, it was found that all ofﬁcials responsible for security on campus should undergo diversity training;

• The ways in which movement is policed on campus. In this regard, it was found that the movement of students tended to be restricted to prevent political or other forms of mobilisation, rather than in the interests of student welfare or to produce a safer space;

• A lack of gender-equity ofﬁcers and desks to address issues of GBV, which can indicate a larger policy shortfall;

• A lack of orientation to address the prejudices of the students who arrive at higher education institutions, which can undermine safety on campus; and

• The importance of institutional policies on gender diversity, such as in the form of facilitating the use of gender-neutral pronouns by students.

The research further found that given the difference between historically black and historically white institutions in terms of student experiences and policies, a greater exchange of ideas and practices among these universities could produce signiﬁcant new learnings in support of efforts to combat gendered violence.

7 This section and the next are based on addresses and discussions that were moderated by Clive Brown, Lecturer and Teaching Practice Coordinator, CPUT.

8 This section is based on an address delivered by Kgothatso Mphahlele, University of the Western Cape (UWC).

3.2 GBV against men and boys: A hidden problem 9

In 2012, it was found that one in ﬁve men in industrialised English-speaking countries reported having experienced violence from a current partner. Given the scale and far-reaching consequences of the phenomenon, it is important that the debate around gender-based violence does not exclude discussion of the issue of intimate partner violence (IPV) enacted by women, if it is to produce a comprehensive understanding of the causes of GBV.

Although men are mainly the perpetrators rather than victims of intimate partner violence, studies have found that many men report being subjected to physical, sexual and verbal abuse by female partners seeking to control, dominate and manipulate them; and that signiﬁcant numbers of men have been exposed to sexual violence associated with conﬂict and have been subjected to rape.

Many men ﬁnd themselves trapped in violent relationships – relationships that they may wish to leave but cannot due to emotional and psychological ties, including to their children. In this regard, there are many cases of divorced women leveraging access to children in an effort to control their former male partners. At the same time, it should be noted that, in the context of a society in which men have more power and greater access to resources, men are generally able to leave abusive relationships more easily than women.

However, the preponderance of women as victims of domestic violence and abuse and the gender inequalities in society have led to a dominant perception that only women are victims of violence. This view has led to the development of research perspectives, tools and methodologies that can fail to capture the scope and nature of male victimisation.

The view has also led to discrimination against men who disclose instances of abuse by women. For example, such reporting is often greeted with disbelief and victim-blaming. Men can be reluctant to report abuse because of a social discourse that frames such violence as an issue that only affects women; and because they may be stigmatised as “not man enough” to address such violence on their own.

Meanwhile, ofﬁcial responses to men reporting cases of domestic violence and abuse are inadequate in many countries. For example, it has been found that women in English-speaking countries often defying restraining orders against them – and then when the police are called to enforce such orders they are biased against the men. Such injustice can have profound negative impacts. For example, disregard by the criminal justice system can lead men who suffer abuse at the hands of their female partners to inﬂict retribution. So, there should be training for the police on how to deal with GBV against men and how men are affected by such violence.

9 This section is based on an address delivered by Mandlenkosi Mphatheni, University of Limpopo.

3.3 CPUT, GBV and disability 10

The proportion of people living with disabilities has greatly increased due to a rise in the numbers of older people and of those with chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. The increase may also be attributed to improved identiﬁcation and diagnosis of disabilities.

Globally, 15% of the population live with disabilities. In terms of discrimination, people with disabilities are three times more likely to experience physical and sexual violence. Girls and women with disabilities are ten times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than their female peers without disabilities; and it has been found that gender discrimination against girls with disabilities starts early. Meanwhile, boys and men with disabilities are twice as likely to be sexually abused as their male peers without disabilities.

Disability can add to the burden faced by people living in poverty and by women at risk of GBV. In this regard, women and young people with disabilities face the same forms of gender-based violence as are faced by their peers without disabilities, as well as additional forms of GBV.

Disability-speciﬁc GBV may be enacted by care-givers, teachers and other professionals, and partners. It can take the form of:

• Withholding medication and assistive devices;

• Corporal punishment and bullying;

• Denial of necessities such as food and the use of the toilet;

• Withholding grooming;

• Control over sensory devices – for example, somebody who is hearing impaired may be refused access to their hearing aid;

• Financial control;

• Restricted access to communications devices;

• Early or forced marriages;

• Coerced medical procedures, such as abortions and hysterectomies; and

• Restricted access to contraceptives or forced use of contraceptives.

A number of myths about people with disabilities have been promulgated, including that:

• They are asexual or that they are over-stimulated sexually;

• They cannot marry or have children;

• They cannot make a meaningful contribution to society and are worthless;

• They are a burden ﬁnancially, physically and emotionally to their carers;

• Their body parts and hair have special powers;

• They are virgins, which means that having sex with them can cure HIV; and

• Disability is a curse on the individual or family.

Such views – and the harmful actions that they produce – are the result of stigmatisation; discrimination; a lack of knowledge and information; and a lack of support for people with disabilities.

People with disabilities are easy targets. If someone is hearing-impaired, they cannot hear someone coming from behind. If a person is blind, they cannot see when they go to a police station to report a crime and cannot describe the alleged perpetrator’s physical attributes. If they are in a wheelchair, they cannot ﬂee someone who is blocking their way.

10 This section is based on an address delivered by Dellicia de Vos, Disability Unit, CPUT.

In general, people with disabilities are more likely to be isolated and vulnerable. Due to their personal care needs and dependency on others, they can tend to have lower self-esteem and may be less assertive. They are less likely to disclose incidents of harm and abuse because of communications barriers. In addition, they may be less aware of their rights; and may lack knowledge in certain areas, including in relation to sexual vocabulary.

They may also find it more difficult to access services, including in cases of violence against them. For example, a deaf woman who goes to a police station where there is no sign-language interpreter will find it difficult to tell the police what happened to her.

Against this background, more equitable treatment of people with disabilities can be promoted by raising awareness (dispelling myths and misconceptions); educating people; and undertaking research.

In terms of reporting GBV to the authorities, efforts should be made to ensure that all incidents of GBV against people with disabilities can be reported properly; and there should be consequences for the perpetrators, including in the form of prosecutions, which is often not the case.

In terms of policy-making, issues of disability should not be marginalised and should be part of the mainstream agenda. In addition, people with disabilities should be included in the establishment and implementation of all processes, policies and laws relating to the issue of GBV.

3.4 Discussion11

CPUT’s Disability Unit has wheelchair-accessible ofﬁces on the Bellville and District Six campuses. As part of the university’s efforts to support learning among students with disabilities it provides assistive devices and software.

CPUT provides comprehensive support for victims of GBV regardless of where and when such violence may take place, whether in the home or on campus, whether recently or as a child12 Victims are encouraged to make an appointment with the student counselling department. In this regard, although the university is not in a position to take action against perpetrators who are not members of the institutions, it but can provide support and offer advice on the actions that may be taken and where the student should go to take the matter further.

If a rape is reported to student counsellors or members of the campus protection services, the victim will be advised to go to the local Thuthuzela Care Centre. The university has established a supportive relationship with this network of centres and will provide victims with all the support that is needed in this respect. In particular, the university will seek to ensure that a number of immediate actions are taken to protect the victims of rape. These include, as required: taking the morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy; receiving treatment to prevent a sexually transmitted infection (STI); and taking antiretrovirals to prevent HIV transmission in the ﬁrst 72 hours. It is also important to advise someone who has experienced rape not to wash even though this may be one of their ﬁrst impulses after being sexually assaulted.

11 This section is based on a plenary discussion.

12 This paragraph and the next three are based on comments made by Melani-Ann Hara, Student Development Ofﬁcer, CPUT, from the ﬂoor at the meeting.

At the Thuthuzela Care Centre, the student will discard their clothes which will be wrapped in paper and then placed in a plastic bag as a source of material evidence. Carers at the centre will then take oral, vaginal and anal swabs as required to collect DNA evidence; after which the student will be able to shower and put on some clean clothes. The police will then be called. One of the responsibilities of those working at the centre is to ensure that victims of rape only have to tell the story of what happened to them once when reporting the crime, so that they are not forced to relive the trauma over and again.

As a security precaution and in order to ensure that the female students feel at home, CPUT houses its students in single-sex residences as a safety precaution and in order to ensure that the female students feel at home. The idea is that such residences are safe spaces where female students can feel comfortable at all times, such as, for example, when exiting a shower wrapped in a towel. Meanwhile, the onus is on the male students at the university to behave in socially responsible ways towards their female peers. In general, the aim is to create a safe space for all female and male students, including those with disabilities.

4. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

4.1 International Women’s Day: Eradicating GBV in higher education 13

International Women’s Day ﬁnds it origins in the struggle for gender equality and reproductive rights and against the abuse of girls and women. The women’s movement that campaigned for the establishment of this day of commemoration understood that gender inequality stems from the nature of the societies and world in which women live and that, accordingly, the issue of violence against women must also be understood in this context.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than a quarter of women aged 15 to 49 have been subjected to sexual or physical violence by intimate partners. The rates of such violence range from 20% in the Western Paciﬁc to 22% in high-income countries in Europe; 25% in the Americas; 31% in the eastern Mediterranean and Africa; and 33% in south-east Asia. Globally, about 38% of women who are murdered are killed by intimate partners. It has been found that violence against women is exacerbated and takes new forms during humanitarian crises, such as under the national lockdowns imposed in response to Covid-19, when there was increased exposure to abusive partners and relatively limited access to services.

In South Africa, the general public have become used to media headlines and stories about how women have been stabbed to death by their boyfriends or ex-boyfriends before their bodies are cut up and dumped. For decades, girls and women across the country have faced the threat of genderbased violence, with more than 45% of South African girls and women suffering GBV at some point in their lives, which is well about the global average of 35%.

13 This section is based on an address delivered by Buti Manamela, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, South Africa.

Young women aged 16 to 25 years are the most likely to be attacked. In this context, 10% of all reported rapes are of women who are students, academics or workers at universities, TVET colleges or community colleges. Some of this violence, such as the murder of Tshwane University of Technology student Ntokozo Xaba at a residence in Pretoria, has grabbed the headlines. But much has gone unreported. Indeed, it has been estimated that only 1 in 10 rape cases are ever reported.

In response and in an effort to produce safer spaces for the 2.5 million young people, of whom 51 percent are female, in post-school education and training, DHET has collaborated with the Higher Health national agency over the years on a number of policy, programmatic and institutional interventions.

In particular, it launched a policy framework to address GBV in 2020. This framework sought to:

• Foster an enabling environment. Guidelines were drafted and protocols and minimum standards were agreed and communicated to higher education institutions with the aim of helping them to establish gender-based programming and an environment in which the victims of GBV could be offered proper support;

• Support the establishment of awareness and prevention programmes. The aim was to ensure institutions took action to raise awareness of the policies and services that were in place to address GBV. Initial resistance to this among institutions on the basis of a lack of capacity was overcome.

• Establish procedures for reporting and managing allegations of GBV and sexual harassment. The aim was to ensure that institutions adopted appropriate processes for supporting and protecting complainants and victims of GBV including in relation to their anonymity and conﬁdentiality and the need to take timely action.

Even as campus security is strengthened and effective collaboration is established with the South African Police Service (SAPS), students and staff in the PSET sector will continue to be at risk of rape and murder on the basis of gender unless the root causes of the phenomenon are addressed. They will continue to be subjected to so-called corrective rape and killings on the basis of their sexuality – and a climate of fear will persist.

In this regard, GBV interventions must focus on changing the behaviour and mindset of boys and young men, instilling respect for women and the sanctity of their bodies and lives. Programmes addressing toxic masculinity, patriarchy and misogyny need to be forged and implemented to build a new generation of boys and young men who can become catalysts for the establishment of gender-equal society.

Traditional practices should be preserved, but the elements of traditional cultures that reinforce toxic masculinity must be addressed. So, while going to the mountain as part of male initiation practices can be character-building for the young men involved, it should not foster the idea that men have authority over women and are entitled to use their bodies as they will. In this respect, a number of religious practices also can produce harm.

Meanwhile, young women should be encouraged to stand up for themselves. There is a tendency among young female students on campus to adopt entrenched gender roles, mimicking familiar domestic practices by cooking for their student boyfriends, washing their dishes and taking out their laundry. If the girlfriend refuses to undertake such tasks, she may be beaten or dumped. Such patterns of behaviour must change. The boyfriends must be told to look after themselves; and the young women should walk out on boyfriends who threaten to dump them if they refuse to remain subservient.

For their part, the higher education institutions must implement policies and practices that promote respect across the gender spectrum and in relation to individual expressions of sexuality. They should adopt a zero-tolerance approach towards those who seek to abuse people on the basis of their choice of sexuality. PSET spaces must be owned democratically by everyone studying and working in them without fear of harm or violence.

At the same time, it should be acknowledged that institutions on their own cannot address the root causes of GBV, which stem from the nature of society itself. In South Africa, there is a long history of violence being deployed to control people, including within families. In this respect, it is important to be mindful of the fact that the patriarchy and misogyny that prevails in academic institutions have their genesis in society. The character of the higher education sector reﬂects that of a society in which women’s oppression has been normalised. Accordingly, efforts to change gender relations in a fundamental way must address the power relations and socio-economic inequalities that have produced this normalisation.

In previous generations, men were afforded respect and dignity only if they worked. Women were expected to subjugate themselves to male breadwinners; and the unpaid work of care and domestic labour went unvalued. Against this background, it seems clear that efforts to address gender-based violence effectively cannot be isolated from efforts to address the broader economic issues that underpin discrimination against women.

For its part, CPUT has taken signiﬁcant steps to address the issues of GBV and gender equality14. Each faculty has its own gender equality champions who are obliged to report to the university’s Institutional Transformation Forum (ITF). First-year experience (FYE) programmes have been established at every faculty which explain CPUT’s culture and expectations to incoming student cohorts. The head of the university’s HIV/Aids Unit oversees a peer educator programme that addresses GBV. More broadly, the university’s focus on the virtue of “oneness” seeks to promote a culture of mutual respect under which there is an appreciation of the common humanity that binds everyone.

5. GBV MONITORING AND EVALUATION INCLUDING WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT 15

5.1 Women’s empowerment – a proposal for conducting and monitoring mentorship programmes in higher education16

Mentorship as a form of two-way learning through which skills are transferred and self-esteem is strengthened can help to empower women in education and social economic development and in this way can reduce the risk of GBV. Effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of mentorship programmes can help to strengthen them by identifying the ways in which they are proving effective and the areas where there is room for improvement. In a climate of austerity, proper M&E can promote accountability and effectiveness, and ensure that funds are being spent appropriately.

14 This paragraph is based on comments made by Clive Brown at the meeting.

15 his section is based on an address moderated by Lucina Reddy, Employment Equity Specialist, CPUT.

16 This section is based on an address delivered by Dr Nelisiwe Maleka, Manager of Research Uptake, CPUT.

The present study has undertaken a review of the M&E frameworks developed for a number of programmes focusing on preventing GBV among adolescents and young adults and supporting the female survivors of such violence. The strategies employed by these programmes included mentorship to prevent violence, and the promotion of bystander interventions. For example, a programme in Liberia aimed to equip adolescent girls with the skills and experiences necessary to make healthy strategic life choices and to stay safe from sexual violence.

A key goal of the study has been to compare the M&E frameworks for programmes promoting GBV prevention in isolation, and GBV-plus programmes which seek to prevent the violence in a more holistic way, such as through efforts both to promote the reporting of incidents and to empower women.

The research has identiﬁed the importance of M&E as a tool for implementing theories of change, including through the creation of time-bound, measurable, relevant and adaptable indicators for the production of outputs and the achievement of objectives. It has noted the need to engage all stakeholders from the outset with continuous feedback to ensure that the particular programme meets the needs of participants; the importance of assessing medium- and long-term impacts and the achievement of goals; and the need to establish an effective communications strategy to ensure the effective engagement of stakeholders.

A particular goal of the research has been to develop generic indicators for GBV, women’s empowerment and mentorship projects that may be adapted for use in speciﬁc programmes. In this regard, it has found that there is a gap in the monitoring frameworks under study, which failed to pay sufﬁcient attention to addressing the needs of marginalised groups.

The ﬁndings of the research, which is still underway, indicate the need to budget for monitoring and evaluation, which can be quite expensive, as an integral aspect of any proposed programme so that its actual impacts may be understood. In this regard, given that M&E is complex and should be an institutional responsibility, the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences at CPUT may make an invaluable contribution to the promotion of M&E for GBV and women’s empowerment programming by taking a leading role in designing appropriate M&E systems for the university and the sector more broadly.

6. GBV INTERVENTIONS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA 17

Social media can play a pivotal role in creating awareness of GBV. At the same time, GBV is rife online, including in the form of sexual harassment and stalking, which can lead to actual violence. Accordingly, it is important for institutions to develop policy in this area, particularly since a failure to do so may be taken as complicity.

17 This section is based on addresses and a discussion that were moderated by Mandie Richards, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, CPUT.

6.1 Creating GBV awareness and promoting research and digital skills in the basic education curriculum18

At present, there is a signiﬁcant gap between basic education and higher education in South Africa. Higher education practitioners say that the educational provision at primary and secondary levels in inadequate, while those in basic education blame the tertiary sector for failing to produce good teachers. Against this background, researchers at CPUT joined a project undertaken in Mpumalanga and the Western Cape to look at what is happening in terms of teaching in the classroom.

In particular, the researchers engaged with teachers to see how they were undertaking life orientation with their pupils and whether they were following the basic education curriculum for this subject. A further aim of the study was to consider how digital technologies may be integrated into the curriculum so that pupils acquire basic digital skills and learn how to deploy these technologies to conduct research. As the study progressed, it became clear that it also offered an opportunity for reviewing the educational provision in relation to fostering awareness of GBV awareness and integrating this into the life orientation curriculum.

Current research indicates that few efforts have been made to produce programmes for children making them aware of GBV. Accordingly, an aim of the present study is to introduce GBV issues as an educational topic for pupils – in particular so that pupils are able to air their concerns and feelings around GBV, including in relation to whether they may have been victims themselves and also so that they may understand and recognise what constitutes GBV in their home, school and community environments. Accordingly, the researchers are reviewing how the topic may be included in the life orientation curriculum in play schools and at primary schools, and also on how a platform for continuous engagement on the topic may be established at high-school level.

The aim of the initiative is to create an environment of prevention through a holistic approach, addressing GBV as it is enacted against girls, boys and members of the LGBTQI+ community. A longer-term goal is to develop a cadre of aware youth who can mitigate GBV, protecting themselves, their friends and their families.

The study, which is being co-published with teachers, has enlisted the support of educators on the ground and has also led to a doctoral study undertaken by one of the authors of the present research. The plan is to test and present an early GBV awareness programme and also to create a community of engagement between basic-education and higher-education practitioners so that they remain in continuous contact and do not just come together for one-off projects.

18 This section is based on an address delivered by Professor Tembisa Ngqondi, Dean, Faculty of Informatics and Design, CPUT.

6.2 Development of a transformative Bachelor of Nursing curriculum to improve nursing practices in response to victims of GBV in the Western Cape 19

Gender-based violence is a problem that affects human health globally as is implicitly acknowledged by SDG 5 which aims to eliminate GBV by 2030.

In South Africa, many traumatised victims of GBV go to healthcare facilities, including clinics and emergency departments, for treatment and support, and also for help with initiating rape cases through the criminal justice system. Nurses are often the ﬁrst points of contact for these victims and may be entirely responsible for managing and referring the victims, as is often the case at underfunded and understaffed rural clinics where there are no doctors or social workers in attendance.

In the context of a global lack of adequate training for nurses on the issues of domestic abuse and violence against woman, national policy in South Africa places the emphasis on producing nurses who are “safe and competent” and can make a meaningful contribution in terms of addressing gender-based violence. However, at present, nurses are equipped with only a basic knowledge of what constitutes gender-based violence and have a poor understanding of how to manage cases of GBV. At the same time, they are expected to provide appropriate support for victims of GBV, including by documenting such cases properly; collecting DNA samples which may be used in a subsequent police investigation or be introduced as evidence in court; and advising victims on additional forms of support that may be available to help them navigate the criminal justice system.

The lack of training in this area may be attributed to shortcomings in the nursing curriculum. The issue of managing the victims of gender-based violence falls under the social-sciences component of the curriculum, which comprises relatively few credits and entails only theoretical training – and no work-integrated learning.

In other words, the trainee nurses are taught the different types of gender-based violence by lecturers but there is no practical component that may reinforce what they have learnt through experience of collecting samples or exercises in managing the victims of gender-based violence when they present themselves. In the absence of such training, novice nurses are likely to pick up skills for managing GBV cases on the job from peers, which is far from ideal. In addition, nurses who have not been properly trained in this area may place their patients at unnecessary risk and expose the healthcare facilities where they work to legal actions arising from inadequate provision of care.

At the international level, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended that support for victims of GBV be integrated into the undergraduate nursing curriculum, as is the case in Australia, India and Mexico.

Against this background, the present proposed research seeks to determine the preparedness of nurses in the Western Cape to recognise and respond to gender-based violence. It will interview student nurses and nursing teachers at CPUT, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Stellenbosch University, as well as victims of GBV at home shelters. It will investigate their experiences and concerns. For example, some of the victims who were treated by nurses might feel that they received inadequate

19 This section is based on an address delivered by Siphesihle Hlophe, Durban University of Technology.

or inappropriate care. The study will also seek recommendations for addressing any problems that are identiﬁed, in particular from the nursing lecturers who are well-placed to advise on this.

Nurses are well-placed to support GBV victims, and they should be equipped with appropriate skills accordingly. In this regard, the broad aims of the study are to:

• Support curriculum planners in their efforts to produce adequately trained practitioners;

• Highlight the importance of GBV as an issue to be addressed in the health system; and

• Provide advice on the development of guidelines for the inclusion of a GBV module in the nursing curriculum.

6.3 Twitter as a site for deliberation on GBV: A case study at three South African universities 20

Social media interventions can contribute to university efforts to address gender-based violence, particularly in the form of the conversations that these institutions are having with their students, staff and external stakeholders. The impact of social media as a force for change has recently been shown by a number of social movements, such as the international #MeToo campaign.

In this context, the present study deploys a computational social science analysis of tweets produced at CPUT, Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town (UCT) to identify how Twitter (now called “X”) has been used to communicate around the issue of GBV and how such communication via social media may be deployed strategically by universities in their quest to combat the phenomenon. It was found that across the universities, regardless of the total number of tweets made at each institution, no more than 3% addressed the issue of GBV, indicating that it not being discussed that widely as a topic.

The tweets were then analysed in relation to when they were sent and it was found that there were two main peaks in activity: in August each year, which coincides with Women’s Month in South Africa; and in March each year coinciding with International Women’s Day. There was also a peak in September 2019 at UCT following the rape and murder of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana.

Closer analysis of the words and phrases commonly employed in the tweets indicate that many of those at Rhodes referenced the “SRC” and the “NRF”, perhaps indicating the activist role played by the Student Representative Council on the issue and an interest in conducting research on the topic. At CPUT, institutional slogans such “we are CPUT” and “creating futures” featured prominently, as well as the terms “students”, “staff”, “community” and “faculty”; while at UCT, there were a number of references to “for women by women” which is a university campaign promoting funding for research projects undertaken by women and/or on the subject of gender. Mentions of UCT’s ViceChancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng were also quite common.

Analysis of the terminology used in the tweets at the three institutions indicates that CPUT may be using a bottom-up approach to addressing the issue of GBV in contrast with UCT, which seems to be adopting a top-down approach with the Vice-Chancellor featuring prominently in the online communications. Meanwhile, no discernible pattern emerges from the language deployed in the

20 This section is based on an address delivered by Dr Sisanda Nkoala, Senior Lecturer, Media Department, CPUT.

tweets at Rhodes, which may suggest that gender issues there are being discussed in a way that is not linked to a particular campaign or directed at a particular part of the institution.

The provisional conclusions of the research to date are that:

• Discussions on the issue of GBV tend to take place at particular times of year, which indicates the ways in which Twitter users tend to limit themselves in terms of the conversations in which they engage;

• Online discussions on gender are related to ofﬂine initiatives and events, indicating the way in which social media gain traction from, and respond to, real-world events, rather than operating in isolation;

• Some universities, such as UCT, use Twitter to engage the public more broadly on particular issues and topics – for example, by attaching press releases; while others, such as CPUT, tend to use the medium as a platform for communication within the institution.

6.4 Snake Nation – using student-produced art and technology to fight GBV 21

Multicultural millennials are the most diverse generation ever. They are socially and culturally connected in new ways; and have significant buying power. However, the diverse culture of this youth is not properly reflected in traditional media. Against this background, Snake Nation helps creators build their audience, distribute their products and monetise their work in the global creative economy. In particular it seeks to support creatives who are people of colour at the intersection of African and African-American cultures, and promote their narratives and influence in a white-dominated industry. At present, black agencies represent only own 2% of the communications market; and only 5% of those working in the gaming industry are people of colour.

In response, Snake Nation has adopted a bottom-up approach deploying the new technologies to help young black people tap into the creative economy. It coordinates with universities, including CPUT, to establish societies and studios on campus so that students can co-create content. This content is then distributed online using blockchain technologies, as well as through deals with major media outlets, which enables creatives to earn from the work that they are producing.

At CPUT, Snake Nation has partnered with the Faculty of Informatics and Design to establish a number of societies with the aim of fostering entrepreneurs and creating a student-owned marketing agency so that black youth can enter the industry. Societies have been established to promote technopreneurship; women in technology; digital creativity; and engagement in eSports and gaming.

Snake Nation has also coordinated with the Department of Student Affairs (DSA) at CPUT to establish a social studio on campus and hold events, including hackathons; creative ﬂea markets; poetry sessions; competitions; and a career expo with the aim of supporting students in their efforts to produce content and become creatives. Contests have been run to encourage young people to create content on the themes of GBV, substance abuse and xenophobia. The idea is that content created by students will directly appeal to other students, thus embedding serious messages in a cool campus culture. The engagement between Snake Nation and CPUT has led to creative content that has been produced by a number of students being showcased at national level.

21 This section is based on an address delivered by Tshitso Mosolodi, South Africa Director, Snake Nation.

7.1 GBV: The reality faced by young women in higher education 23

Women in South Africa are disproportionately at risk of becoming of victims of gender-based violence even as the physical, mental and social consequences of this violence can remain hidden from view. A study conducted by South Africa’s Medical Research Council in 2012 found that one woman is killed by an intimate partner every eight hours; and that level of violence persists to this day. A total of 10% of all reported rape cases take place at higher education institutions.

Patriarchy and the power wielded by men at the expense of women play an important role in gender-based violence. Other factors contributing to vulnerability among women include poor socio-economic circumstances; unemployment; a high level of teenage pregnancies; and a high number of school drop-outs.

In 2018, CPUT held a young-women-in-leadership conference with UCT, Stellenbosch University, UWC and a number of TVET colleges in the Western Cape, including Boland College, College of Cape Town, False Bay College and Northlink College. The two-day meeting, which was attended by young women aged 17 to 24, focussed on issues of gender-based violence and personal empowerment. In support of this focus, evaluation forms were distributed to all those attending the conference asking them what risks young women face; what needs emerge in the relation to these risks; and what responses they would want to see in answer to these needs.

The young women at the meeting identified GBV and vulnerability as the main risks that they faced, followed by discrimination. In response to these risks, they identified a need for better policing, and safer campuses and residences, which could take the form of better lighting at night (a problem which can be exacerbated by loadshedding) and protection officers being available to accompany women around. They also said that there was a need for social ills to be addressed within the curriculum.

In terms of responding to the lack of safety that they experienced, the young women advocated for a change of behaviour at the individual level, noting that they themselves should avoid walking home alone or taking empty taxis or taxis occupied only by men.

In terms of the desired responses to the lack of safety at the institutional level, the young women noted that personal safety is a human right and asked their universities and colleges to review existing gender-based violence policies. They said that the safety of women and members of marginalised group should be taken seriously; and that women and members of these groups should be properly included in student structures (which is happening at CPUT) and in institutional efforts to manage the phenomenon, under the principle of “nothing for us without us”. They further said that GBV should be a priority issue on the agenda at management and SRC meetings; and that monitoring and evaluation should be undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the relevant policies, including in relation to the number of reported cases of

22 This section is based on addresses and a discussion that were moderated by Lolwethu Luthuli, Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Management, CPUT, and Likhona Ndongeni, Deputy President, CPUT Student Representative Council (SRC).

23 This section is based on an address delivered by Melanie Swanson, Head, HIV Unit, CPUT.

gender-based violence. They said that male students needed to be educated on the issue and that more research on the topic should be undertaken. They emphasised that survivors of GBV should be kept informed of the progress in reported cases.

For its part, CPUT addresses the issue of GBV as a matter of course in its workshops with students, seeking to determine whether individuals may be victims of GBV through a number of questions and offering to refer those who are deemed to be at risk to student counselling so that they can be helped.

As part of this assessment, students are asked whether:

• They feel afraid of their partner;

• Their partner humiliates or yells at them;

• Their partner is violent;

• Their partner has a bad or unpredictable temper;

• Their partner has threatened violence or even death;

• Their partner is excessively jealous, possessive and/or controlling;

• Their partner tries to prevent them from going to certain places or meeting their friends or family; and

• Their partner limits their access to money or their phone or their car and is constantly checking up on them.

Meanwhile, at the institutional level, the university launched a position statement on its response to GBV in 2018 and has developed a gender-based violence policy. It has implemented an ongoing young women’s empowerment program which entails collaboration across departments. It has also supported the establishment of an Amajita’s Men’s Programme which aims to foster socially responsible men through a cadre of male peer educators and the promotion of a men’s pledge.

In addition, a number of campaigns have been implemented to raise awareness of GBV, including a silent protest held in 2019, under which purple ribbons were wrapped around trees on campus. There has also been an emphasis on empowering students to take the lead in addressing and eradicating the scourge of GBV where they can – on campus and at the residences.

A 24-hour helpline for those at risk of, or suffering, GBV has been established; and a number of women’s self-defence activities have been undertaken.

At present, an impact analysis is being implemented to determine whether these interventions are making a difference. There is also a push to promote GBV-related research. In addition, an annual survey on GBV and personal safety is planned to maintain momentum in relation to the issue.

7.2 GBV in a tertiary institution in the Western Cape 24

Gender-based violence can take many forms. With the advent of new online technologies, these include:

• Cyberbullying, which entails the dissemination of online messages with intent to harm others;

• Cyberstalking, which entails monitoring an individual’s movements via software and technology planted in their phone or car;

24 This section is based on an address delivered by Bongani Sonqwenqwe, CPUT.

• Trolling, which involves posting irritating comments meant to create an argument and foster dissent;

• Digital dating, through which the perpetrator gains the trust of their victim before striking; and

• Image-based abuse, under which sexual images and videos which may have been made with the partner’s consent are used against them when the relationship turns sour either to exact revenge or to extort money or favours.

Young, inexperienced female students aged between 18 and 23 who are away from home and on their own often for the ﬁrst time represent a particularly vulnerable group. Their vulnerability is exacerbated by the under-reporting of incidents of GBV at higher education institutions. Such underreporting can be a product of their own inexperience and lack of knowledge of the phenomenon. It can also be a product of the environment of denial that can be produced at institutions which deliberately downplay the extent of the problem due to the potential reputational damage that may be caused were this to be revealed.

Accordingly, higher education institutions must review their present policies on the issue, making an explicit institutional commitment to communicate effectively with students, academics and managers so that they understand and take action on the issue of GBV. The institutional commitment should not just take the form of a ﬁne-sounding policy but should entail active engagement. Safety can only be produced if everyone knows the nature of GBV and acts on this knowledge.

Survivors of GBV should play a central role in the development and implementation of policies on the issue. In addition, men in the institution, as well as in society more broadly, need to take greater responsibility for raising boys and youth properly.

In the context of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration that GBV constitutes a “second pandemic”, higher education institutions must address the issue with due care and take the necessary steps to combat the phenomenon, which is a problem for everyone, not just the victims.

7.3 The evaluation of a men’s programme for eradicating GBV in a South African higher education institution 25

In general, participation in men’s programmes seeking to raise awareness about gender equality and GBV is limited at higher education institutions in South Africa. In part, this may be attributed to logistical issues – male students may not be properly informed in advance about events being held; but, more broadly, it may be attributed to the fact that such programmes are not undertaken on a continuous basis. In general, it seems that the sustainability of such programmes is under threat.

In an effort to address this challenge and given that there has been little research into the nature and impacts of such programmes, a study has been initiated at CPUT to evaluate them. The study will seek to evaluate the extent and kind of the participation in men’s programmes in the higher education sector, as well as in those being undertaken beyond the campus gates, such as Takuwani Riime Men’s Movement.

25 This section is based on an address delivered by Tumiso Mﬁsa, Coordinator, Centre for Diversity, Inclusivity and Social Change, CPUT.

It will seek to evaluate the nature of the men’s involvement; the beneﬁts that the programmes may be producing for the participants and in relation to other interventions to combat GBV; the obstacles such programmes face; and the opportunities for extending their reach and potential to produce change. The study will also consider how to institute effective monitoring and evaluation of these programmes.

The research will seek to mobilise men at higher education institutions and identify their concerns in relation to the kinds of interventions that may be most effective. It will hold discussions with them on some of the major topics that have previously been raised by men in relation to the issue of GBV, such as the issue of consent (“no” means “no” not “yes”) and the role of substance and alcohol abuse as a factor (and excuse for) GBV, as well as the broader context of patriarchy and “toxic masculinity”. The discussions will also consider the importance of including additional voices in men’s programmes, such as those of men from rural communities.

The main goal of the research will be to identify the beneﬁts and impacts that have been produced by men’s engagement in GBV programmes and the factors that have impeded such participation and the effective implementation of such programmes.

7.4 Discussion 26

The area on campus behind the post-graduate residence is dark and dangerous, but the risk seems to be disregarded. More broadly, CPUT should publicise the numbers of GBV cases by campus so that the scale of the risk at the various sites can be identiﬁed and addressed effectively.

There is a perception that campus security service personnel are not trained to address GBV, although such training is gradually being implemented. There are also concerns about student safety at privately run residences off campus, including that there may be no night staff available to accompany someone who has been attacked to a Thuthuzela Care Centre. In response, CPUT is reviewing the efforts made by other universities, including in the Eastern Cape, to address cases of GBV taking place in private spaces beyond the campus gates.

It has been suggested that CPUT’s effort to support survivors of GBV would be boosted by the 24hour availability of nurses trained to take a rape kit at campus clinics.

The university should adopt a social media policy to address the issue of cyber-bullying and other forms of online sexual harassment.

Research on violence against young women should address the phenomenon in relation to trans women and lesbians. At an immediate practical level, the Queer Unicorns group at CPUT should engage to ensure that their voice is heard in the gender-equity training currently provided by the university.

Within CPUT, there is an institutional GBV committee which is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor. However, there can be problems communicating what takes place at this highest level to students even as there are continuous efforts to implement the university’s zero-tolerance approach to the scourge.

There is a need for more interdisciplinary research to address issues of gender equality and GBV which can be quite complex.

26 This section is based on a plenary discussion.

8. MULTI-SECTORAL PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS TO ADDRESS SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER INEQUALITY AND GBV 27

8.1 Accountability, coordination and leadership in higher education on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) 28

The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) has an ambitious vision of a society free from all forms of gender oppression and inequality that can only be achieved through collaboration with other stakeholders and partners. The CGE monitors and evaluates gender equality and promotes it through research, public education, policy development and legislative initiatives. In general, its relationship with higher education has been around issues of employment equity, diversity and inclusion and issues of sexual harassment. In particular, it has launched investigations in response to complaints or reports of gender inequity and/or sexual harassment and GBV at higher education institutions.

In 2019, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, described higher education institutions as national assets to be preserved. Under this view, the leaders of these institutions are responsible for safeguarding these institutions as national assets and are accountable to the public for their efforts in this respect. These efforts should include addressing issues of race, class, gender, social justice, poverty and violence as a manifestation of socio-economic distress. For its part, the CGE has been undertaking gender transformation investigations and hearings in the higher education sector since 2014.

In the past, there was a normative acceptance of violence and oppression on the basis of gender on the sector. However, this normalisation has been increasingly challenged in the past few years and particularly since 2018, when women’s rights organisations launched #TheTotalShutdown in protest at the high levels of violence against women in South Africa.

Now GBVF has become a priority issue that is discussed widely, including at conferences convened on the topic. In addition, a National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF was launched in 2020 which features six pillars:

• Accountability, coordination and leadership;

• Prevention and rebuilding social cohesion;

• Justice, safety and protection;

• Response, care, support and healing;

• Economic power; and

• Research and information management.

27 This section is based on addresses and a discussion that were moderated by Candice Ludick, End GBVF Collective., End GBVF Collective.

28 This section is based on an address delivered by Sixolile Ngcobo, Western Cape Provincial Manager, Commission for Gender Equality (CGE).

Of the six pillars, the ﬁrst one may be considered cross-cutting since it addresses the issue of responsibility and accountability for implementing the other ﬁve.

In fact, GBVF is everyone’s responsibility – that is, it is the responsibility of society, communities, families and individuals given the prevalence of the phenomenon.

It is also clearly the responsibility of universities, which are microcosms of society, and the individuals in these institutions who bring into these spaces the social ills that plague society in general. In this regard, although universities may have diverse institutional cultures, in large part as a result of the legacies of apartheid and colonialism, there are common behaviours among their members – particularly given that the students come from similar backgrounds, regardless of the university they are attending. Accordingly, every university in the Western Cape is faced with the challenge of GBV and has issues in relation to the adequacy of their response to the phenomenon. So, even as the programmes for addressing the problem may quite rightly differ by institutional context, no university can claim that it is untouched by GBV. After all, there is no fool-proof process for weeding out prospective students who may perpetrate GBV.

Given that this is the case, universities should not seek to suppress reports of GBV or to co-opt the silence of the CGE in relation to such reports as they try to prevent the media and parents from learning the truth. They should not seek to prioritise their public image and fears of losing donor support over the safety of their students.

Rather they should take responsibility for addressing GBV at the highest level in the institution in the ofﬁce of the vice-chancellor. There should also be accountability on the part of the rest of the executive leadership, the Council, the SRC and every member of the institution. In the context of such universal accountability, it should not be possible either to blame or praise particular parts of the institution at the expense of others – for example, by lauding the SRC when there seems to be effective action against GBV and then castigating the vice-chancellor when new cases emerge.

Efforts to establish a culture of no tolerance for violence and discrimination can only be successful if everyone in the institution is promoting that culture. Under this scenario, with students and lecturers united against GBV, there should be no cases of sex for marks.

Higher education institutions also need to coordinate and collaborate with stakeholders beyond the campus gates, both in order to provide rapid-response care and support for survivors of GBV and in order to leverage the resources and funding required to make their pledges and commitments to combatting GBV a reality. Since 2018, many institutions have made much of their promises to address the issue, but their actions have often subsequently failed to match their ﬁne rhetoric.

Against this background, higher education institutions can achieve success in combatting GBV if they are intentional in establishing mechanisms to ensure accountability and leadership on the issue. The approach must be about more than merely holding events – such as to commemorate International Women’s Day or Women’s Month of the 16 Days of Activism. It should also be about more than ticking the boxes and complying with sanctioned approaches to the problem so that the institution can say that it is serious about the issue. The approach should be to go beyond a compliance-driven attitude and actually recognise and acknowledge the value of a zero-tolerance environment; and the value of being intentional, in terms of accountability, coordination and leadership, in addressing the phenomenon.

26 This section is based on a plenary discussion.

Higher education institutions can also be more effective in their efforts if they adopt an intersectional approach, taking into account the ways in which access to power and privilege, which can be shaped by issues of identity, gender, race and citizenship, affect how members of the institution will experience the initiatives that it produces to combat GBV. In this regard, it is important that universities and colleges adopt a range of approaches to address the diverse needs of their students and staff and ensure that the marginalised are not excluded in this respect.

Higher education institutions also have an obligation to investigate underlying challenges relating to gender-based violence in their curricula and to promote GBV as an area of research and discourse just as decolonisation has become a ﬁeld of enquiry in its own right.

They must further make every effort to integrate and provide appropriate support to students from different backgrounds so that they can all thrive. For example, clever students from village schools may ﬁnd the university environment quite alienating and may lose their bearings as a result. In their confusion, they may be vulnerable and become victims of GBV. In such cases, the university has a clear responsibility to provide mentorship and support. The establishment and coordination of appropriate interventions for such students may be informed by an intersectional analysis that identiﬁes students’ likely degree of marginalisation.

8.2 Insights from community-based research for GBV in higher education 29

A number of lessons for research into GBV in higher education may be learned from a social transformation project being undertaken in a community in the southern part of the Cape Peninsula. The project is researching the social determinants of health, which include violence and GBV, in this community. It has adopted an ethnographic approach, with the researchers becoming part of the community; and collaborating with local people to co-create an account of the living knowledge that rests with the community and bring this into the academic space. In addition to conducting participatory action research, the researchers also undertook a number of interventions.

One of the original ideas for the research was to interrogate responses to violence in the community. However, the study soon transitioned to considering forms of resilience in the community, and framing the responses to violence that were encountered as acts of resistance – acts that could take many different forms, from the everyday resistance of cleaning the house to more organised types of resistance such as protests. The research also identiﬁed the importance of positional and relational autonomy in shaping social practices.

A key message that has emerged from the research is the crucial role played by South Africa’s history of crises in shaping society at the personal, community and national levels. Society in South Africa functions in a state of permanent or chronic crisis, with crisis overlaid on crisis. People respond to these crises emotionally in personal and public ways – they pray and they protest. There is great resilience – people get up and get on with what needs to be done; and there is also resistance, which is a phenomenon worthy of greater study, particularly in relation to GBV.

The research further found that people learn negative behaviour by example at a young age. For example, children see violence and it becomes normalised for them. This raises the question of how to

29 This section is based on an address delivered by Penelope Engel-Hills, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, CPUT..

create change. For example, how should the person inside learned violent behaviour be addressed so that there is a prospect of a different future for them and those around them?

In this regard, the research found that although violence is a national and global phenomenon, it is also contextual and local in terms of the kinds of forms it takes and the responses that may be adopted as a result. Based on this insight, CPUT should seek to address GBV and the responses to the phenomenon in terms of how they ﬁnd expression in the ﬂuid, changing context of the university as a community in its own right – which will require further research. An example of the way that the nature of GBV can shift depending on circumstances was provided under Covid-19 lockdown conditions, when there was a spike in domestic violence in communities across the country.

Another relevant lesson from the community research relates to the importance of realising that everyone’s understanding, including that of those who are undertaking research, is embedded in their own experience. In this respect and in order to understand properly other people’s experiences and understandings, it is necessary to eliminate the power differential between researcher and participant, which can be achieved through friendship and authentic listening. Trust needs to be built in order to understand other people’s experiences properly.

At CPUT, ethics of care may be adopted as part of efforts to help students resist GBV and change, and become more prepared and resilient; and to foster a safer environment. Such ethics would entail:

• Being attentive and listening more to the students;

• Taking responsibility, responding and addressing identiﬁed needs, which requires resources and authentic commitment;

• Finding competence at the individual level or through teamwork; and

• Responding to the position of others – and caring and receive care, which are fundamental principles of the feminist movement.

On a practical level, CPUT as a community:

• Needs to be intentional in its quest for solutions;

• Should promote situated learning and the production of socially negotiated knowledge on the issue of GBV;

• Should observe and carefully consider feelings and interactions and then reﬂect deeply on its observations so that it can identify clear goals; and

• Take incremental action, so that the larger vision of gender equality which may be impossible to achieve all at once is reached one step at a time.

In trying to turn the tide, the institution needs to ask a number of key questions:

• How should the university community and its members respond so that they support those whose human rights have been violated?

• How can the members of the university community travel this path of healing together?

• How can the members of the university community respond to create a more enabling environment so that they can listen, talk, and be together on this journey?

In the context of signiﬁcant burn-out, grief and compassion fatigue, there is a need to create a compassionate culture across the institution so that the burden is shared. In this regard, everyone needs to support, notice and be attentive so that they can feel and act on the suffering of others, as well as receiving such support themselves.

8.3 Reporting protocols and training approaches that can enhance the implementation of policy on GBV: A CPUT case study 30

The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) collaboration with CPUT began when the university approached the NPA for advice on how to manage GBV effectively. In order to provide such advice, the NPA had to gain a clear understanding of CPUT’s culture and structures, and the needs of its staff and students. In its coordination with CPUT, the NPA has consistently sought to offer advice and recommendations based on its understanding of circumstances at the university and has refrained from dictating particular courses of action.

As an initial step in its coordination with the NPA and in line with the National Strategic Plan on GBVF launched by the government in 2020, CPUT established a steering committee to oversee the process of establishing and implementing a policy on GBV. In an effort to produce an integrated policy on the issue, this committee reviewed relevant national policies, including policy produced by the Department of Higher Education and Training, as well as the university’s existing policies on sexual harassment and inclusivity. A number of policy drafts were then produced and a ﬁnal draft was prepared for consideration. The policy details the processes that should be followed for reporting incidents of GBV and who is responsible for reporting cases in the various faculties and departments and on the various campuses. The NPA’s Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit researched CPUT’s institutional structures in order to recommend appropriate and effective reporting processes.

In addition, the NPA interrogated a range of GBV scenarios in order to propose appropriate reporting structures. For example, GBV may be perpetrated by a student on another student; or a member of staff on a student; or a student on a member of staff; or someone from outside the institution on a student. In each case, the process for reporting the incident may differ.

It was also necessary to differentiate between incidents of GBV that could constitute a criminal offence and others that were not clearly an offence – and to promote an understanding of this difference among those responsible for handling reports of GBV while ensuring that there would be no attempt to discourage or ignore reporting.

The NPA also looked at how reports of GBV may be lodged – in person or by phone or even electronically – in order to ensure that CPUT would be able to manage these properly. It further considered the kinds of services that would be activated once an incident was reported and who should be responsible for providing these. For example, as part of a holistic approach to supporting survivors of GBV, CPUT may be immediately responsible for ensuring the victim’s safety but may seek outside assistance to provide them with appropriate medical, transport, psycho-social and legal services. In this respect, the NPA sought to identify the kinds of services that would need to be activated and by whom in response to a range of scenarios.

In order to support those responsible for receiving reports of incidents, the NPA proposed and crafted a step-by-step process providing information on the reporting structure, the speciﬁc services that may need to be activated and how those services may be activated (whom to call) for the various scenarios. Under this process, victim reports can either be to another student or to a member of staff or to a designated nodal point. Once the incident has been reported, the activation of the relevant services

30 This section is based on an address delivered by Advocate Lizelle Africa, Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

will start. This may entail a referral to the local Thuthuzela Care Centre (relationships between the various campuses and their local TCC have been established); and to a police Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit (again a relationship between the university and the South African Police Service has already been established in support of this). Other services on offer include student counselling which may be offered by the DSD as a role player under the TCC banner or local civil society organisations (CSOs) with which strong relationships have already been established.

The activation of relevant services may also include coordination with CPUT’s campus protection services, and the initiation of internal disciplinary processes that may be enacted in parallel with criminal proceedings against the alleged perpetrator. Other services that may be activated include the provision of psycho-social and emotional support which may take the form of long-term counselling, and rehousing and other services aimed at ensuring the safety of the victim.

The NPA recommended that a phased approach be adopted to implementing the proposed process for reporting and managing incidents of GBV. It was suggested that under the ﬁrst phase, the process should be managed by campus protection services; under the second phase, nodal points for receiving reports and activating services would be established in the university’s various departments; and under the third phase, the number of reporting sites and stakeholders responsible for activating follow-up services would be increased. Training was then planned on this basis.

In developing the policy for CPUT, a number of speciﬁc challenges arose. For example, the question of transporting victims in need of medical attention proved a thorny one. The university’s contract with its emergency medical services (EMS) provider did not cover transport except for cases requiring acute medical care. Meanwhile, there were concerns over whether the police would be able to come and help in good time; and issues of liability around recruiting campus protection services to transport victims (for example, in the event of a trafﬁc accident).

In terms of ensuring adequate counselling services for students, it was found that there were too few lay counsellors at the university, which created a need to employ the services of external counsellors. It was also important to ensure that CPUT as an institution was committed to implementing the necessary processes. In order to obtain this buy-in, two information sessions were convened with the university’s executive management and its GBV training committee. Both of these were attended by the Vice-Chancellor, who interrogated the proposed reporting process and training plan closely.

The training programme initially focussed on campus protection services in their role as ﬁrst responders. More than 500 CPS staff, including a number of managers, were trained over ﬁve months by NPA staff, and case managers and prosecutors attached to the Thuthuzela Care Centres.

A second round of training was then initiated focussing on maintenance and other staff in the faculties and departments, as well as student counsellors. The content of the various training events has been tailored to meet the needs of the staff involved. In addition, a quick-reference training manual has been produced for those who have been trained.

The training has sought to:

• Promote a victim-centred approach and a sympathetic understanding of what the victim may have experienced and how they may be acting as a result. For example, the individual responsible for receiving the report may need to identify if there has been a delay in the incident being reported and why – but in a non-judgmental way and from the perspective of understanding the plight of the victim. Prosecutors may later rely on this information to mitigate any delay in reporting;

• Ensure that those responsible for receiving reports treat members of the LGBTQI+ community who may have been subjected to secondary victimisation with sensitivity;

• Address the gender prejudices of, for example, male guards raised in patriarchal homes so that they are sensitive to the complaints of young women about their boyfriends and treat the reported cases of GBV as alleged offences rather than as culturally acceptable behaviour;

• Ensure that those responsible for receiving reports understand the ways in which their own responses can affect the criminal process going forward. To this end, the training seeks to foster a basic understanding of the offences that may have been committed, rules of evidence, and investigation and court processes, including in relation to the granting of bail;

• Ensure that those responsible for receiving reports understand CPUT’s own disciplinary processes and what is expected of them in relation to these;

• Highlight the need for trauma containment, which may be provided by bringing in a student counsellor; and

• Ensure that those responsible for receiving reports understand and are familiar with the kinds of services provided by Thuthuzela Care Centres, such as how staff at these centres can provide immediate support for victims wishing to bring cases, help with the provision of shelter as necessary, offer long-term psycho-social support, and expedite the granting of protection orders in cases of domestic violence.

As part of an integrated approach to combatting sexual and gender-based violence, the NPA also collaborates with institutional partners to promote awareness campaigns targeting students so that they do not condone abusive relationships and are able to support their friends in addressing violence that they may have experienced, including by helping them to report it and seek help if necessary.

8.4 Localising responses to the National Strategic Plan on GBVF in higher education: A CPUT case

study

31

Drawing on data collected as part of an inclusivity and diversity survey of staff and students, as well as recent enrolment data, it was found that 87% of CPUT students come from rural provinces and are of African descent. The largest percentage of students come from the Eastern Cape, followed by Mpumalanga and Limpopo, while the Western Cape accounts for only 18% of the total. The student interventions produced by the university must be designed with these demographics in mind.

As a sector, higher education has had little voice and has tended to be treated as the stepchild in government policy, even though there are more than 2 million students at universities in South Africa whose votes play a signiﬁcant role in determining which party wins elections.

Under the 2020 NSP on GBV, universities are only mentioned under Pillar 6 which talks to research and information management. It is as if there are no people, no ﬂesh-and-blood students and staff, at these places. In this respect, there are 33,000 students and 9,000 staff at CPUT, as well as more than 90 student societies.

Policies and the discourse on GBV in the university environment has tended to focus on knowledge production – and when the conversation has turned to staff, the emphasis has been on academic staff, rather than the mass of professional, administrative and support staff, or those staff employed by external service providers.

31 This section is based on an address delivered by Nonkosi Tyolwana, Acting Dean of Student Affairs, CPUT.

In fact, universities are a microcosm of society and are representative of all the groups in society. Accordingly, the GBV policies which universities are obliged to forge should adopt a holistic approach addressing all members of the institution, as well as service providers. They should also seek to integrate GBV into knowledge production and pedagogic activities, including in relation to the curriculum, community-engagement efforts and research.

A number of key drivers and aspects of GBV in the sector have been identiﬁed, including:

• Issues of intimate relations;

• The prevalence of corrective rape;

• Alcohol and drug abuse;

• The issue of power – for example, the ways in which lecturers, house parents and SRC leaders can leverage their inﬂuence over the provision of opportunities in exchange for sexual favours;

• The prevalence of transactional sex;

• Hunger which increases the vulnerability of students to exploitation; and

• Language challenges – for example, a student may offer to help another to communicate and then exploit the provision of such support to assert dominance.

There are also a number of external drivers of GBV, such as the way in which taxi drivers may seek to take advantage of vulnerable students. The university has engaged the municipality and local councillors on this issue.

In line with the 2020 NSP on GBV, CPUT’s own approach has been established on six pillars: accountability, coordination and leadership; prevention and rebuilding social cohesion; justice, safety and protection; response, care, support and healing; economic power; and research and information management.

• Pillar 1: Accountability, coordination and leadership. The Vice-Chancellor chairs the institutional committee on gender-based violence and reports to the Council on its work. The committee includes the SRC president, who represents the needs of students, and is supported by the education and transformation ofﬁce. The work of the committee is coordinated by the registrar who prepares an annual report on its work for Council. Ultimately, the Council is responsible for approving the GBV policy and whether the curriculum is ﬁt for purpose.

• Pillar 2: Prevention and rebuilding social cohesion. Implementation of this pillar is overseen by the Institutional Transformation Forum which is representative of all faculties, units and structures at the university. The forum is responsible for transformation. Reports on transformation are generated by faculties, support departments and others structures on a quarterly basis. In the interests of social cohesion, the SRC and the Queer Unicorns society also sit on the forum. This body also coordinates closely with key external stakeholders, including the NPA and through the authority, the TCCs and police FCS units, as well as CSOs such as Rape Crisis. The ITF’s efforts to address GBV are informed by African feminism. The idea is that since almost 90% of CPUT students come from African homes, it is important to understand the character of these places, including in relation to normative understandings of GBV and the roles of mothers, relative and neighbours, as well as local institutions such as initiation schools, in raising children.

• Pillar 3: Justice, safety and protection. There can be no effective prevention unless the extent and nature of the offending is understood. In this regard, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Operations, who is responsible for staff operations and student affairs, coordinates the provision of reliable, anonymised

data on the numbers of cases prosecuted, withdrawn and pending, as well as the number of convictions and cold cases. The raw data, which may be analysed for trends and patterns, is sourced from campus protection services as the ﬁrst port of call for such reporting.

• Pillar 4: Response, care, support and healing. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Operations coordinates data on the provision of care and healing for survivors of GBV, as well as broader data on student and staff wellness counselling. This data can be deployed to inform the provision of appropriate responses.

• Pillar 5: Economic power. CPUT’s chief ﬁnancial ofﬁcer oversees economic empowerment efforts, which entails ensuring that girls and young women are provided with the resources needed to help them study and succeed. This is a matter of particular concern at CPUT, where 80% of students come from indigent families – compared with the less than 10% of students at the University of Stellenbosch who come from deprived backgrounds.

• Pillar 6: Research and information management. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research is responsible for promoting research on issues of GBV and gender equality and for ensuring that issues of gender equality are brought into the curriculum – including in the ﬁelds of engineering and architecture, so that those producing the infrastructure of the future are well-placed to meet women’s needs.

CPUT has encountered a number of key challenges while seeking to establish and implement an effective policy on GBV:

• Many victims of GBV refuse to lay a charge or open a case. This refusal may stem from a lack of trust in the system and delays in the process, fear of the perpetrator, and concern that, even though they are the victim, they may be stigmatised;

• There have been cases of secondary discrimination and inappropriate behaviour on the part of those who are responsible for supporting victims – that is, the police and CPS ofﬁcers – which have been identiﬁed by staff at the NPA and TCCs;

• There have been cases of accused students leaving and going to another university with impunity;

• Incidents can be under-reported because the perpetrator, who may be an ex-boyfriend or colleague, is known to the victim and may still be in close contact with them.

African feminism has been adopted as a lens for addressing the issue of GBV because it builds on the ways in which African women can wield power in the household and offers appropriate role models to CPUT students who mainly come from African households.

In general, there is a need to change the narrative around GBV, addressing the issue of stigmatisation directly by naming and shaming the perpetrators and shining the spotlight on their actions rather than those of the victims. So, for example, students and scholars who have sexually assaulted others should not be able to continue their academic careers unaffected and continue to receive the plaudits. In addition, at the domestic level, it should not be taboo to draw attention to acts of GBV in other families.

CPUT’s 101 course includes a module on GBV which is compulsory in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences and the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences. This module should be extended to the other faculties and disciplines – for example, so that engineering students have an understanding of what sexual harassment means before they undertake internships or enter the workplace.

8.5 Discussion

32

The South African police are aware of the kinds of offences that relate to GBV, including sexual offences, such as rape; sexual assault; offences committed against children and people with disabilities; and crimes of violence including assault, grievous bodily harm and attempted murder, which may take place in a domestic context. In addition, the police have been trained in how to respond to such reported offence and, in particular, how to manage cases of domestic violence. In this regard, if the person reporting the offence ﬁnds that the police fail to provide a proper service – for example, by questioning their capacity and integrity – they should lodge a complaint.

The Thuthuzela Care Centres operate in a multi-disciplinary context and coordinate with a number of stakeholders. For example, they liaise with the NPA on prosecutions and with health and police services so that appropriate victim support is provided. In addition, they coordinate with the Department of Social Development to offer psycho-social and trauma counselling. The DSD can and does outsource such counselling services to CSOs. In this respect, there may be opportunities for universities also to provide such services, which is a possibility being considered by CPUT and Stellenbosch University.

There have been cases of perpetrators of GBV being protected by university authorities on the basis of their academic achievements or access to research funding. There have also been cases of such individuals moving from one higher education institution to the next and graduating and receiving qualiﬁcations with impunity. However, their career paths should not be valued over the pain and suffering of their victims. These perpetrators should be tracked across institutions and every effort should be made to bring them to justice.

Efforts should be made to vet workplaces and schools that are used for student work placements; and to hold these institutions and the individuals within them accountable for any incidents of sexual harassment and discrimination that may take place during work placements. In addition, efforts should be made to vet university service providers that send staff on campus. In general, the national sex offenders register offers a useful tool for vetting.

The notion of culture, religion and tradition as drivers of violence needs to be considered with care. For example, there can be little understanding of what may actually constitute tradition or of the ways in which colonialism rescripted culture, religion and tradition in South Africa. At the same time, notions of culture, religion and tradition cannot stand above the prescriptions of the Constitution and should not be deployed as excuses for unacceptable violence.

African feminism should be seen as part of the decolonisation project as a progressive approach that acknowledges and supports intersectional identities. For example, there are already several terms for members of the LGBTQI+ community in Xhosa culture. A key goal of African feminism is to resist the historical inﬂuence of colonialism in society, which has led to men seeing women as their property, and re-Africanise society and restore values of ubuntu that have been lost.

It has been noted that CPUT must acknowledge the needs of LGBTQI+ students alongside those of other minority groups such as students with disabilities. In this regard, a 2022 report produced by the university sought to ensure that admissions forms do not discriminate against prospective non-genderbinary students; and that gender-friendly, gender-neutral and disability-friendly placement in residences is provided.

32 This section is based on a plenary discussion.

9. GBV INTERVENTIONS THROUGH CONVERSATION AND SUSTAINABLE PREVENTION INITIATIVES 33

9.1 Exploring the contributory factors of intimate partner violence against women in South African rural higher education institutions: A systemic study 34

Intimate partner violence against women on campus and off-campus at rural higher education institutions in South Africa has been on the rise in recent years, according to media reports published between 2017 and 2022. Research undertaken into experiences of IPV at the University of Limpopo indicates that legislative and enforcement efforts to address the problem have proved quite ineffective and low reporting of incidents of IPV have hampered efforts to control and prevent the phenomenon. The literature on the topic of IPV has identiﬁed a number of drivers of the phenomenon:

• Gender inequality: In a patriarchal society, men are valued more highly than women. The result is gender inequality and the subordination and objectiﬁcation of women which can lead to intimate partner violence.

• Socio-economic factors: Economic hardship, poverty and unemployment can exacerbate the risk of IPV. For example, women in financially difficult situations may feel compelled to remain in an abusive relationship due to their financial dependence on their partner.

• Cultural beliefs and social norms: These can contribute to IPV in a number of ways. For example, a male partner’s physical abuse of their wife or girlfriend may be condoned as the use of necessary force for disciplinary purposes.

• Inadequate enforcement of existing legislation: The result can be impunity for perpetrators. The problem is exacerbated by low reporting rates of incidents of domestic violence.

In response to the extent and nature of IPV at rural higher education institutions in South Africa, it is recommended that:

• Effective policies and programmes targeting IPV against women in these places be introduced as a matter of urgency. Interventions should address the root causes of the violence and provide the necessary support and resources to victims and survivors.

• Campaigns and programmes to foster awareness and understanding of the problem of IPV and issues of gender equality more broadly should be stepped up. These should target both men and women with the aim of changing attitudes and behavioural patterns and with the larger goal of enabling rural women to thrive in all areas of life.

• A drive to normalise reporting of incidents of IPV across South African rural higher education institutions should be launched. Such an initiative should entail the provision of adequate support and protection to victims and survivors who report incidents, and efforts to ensuring that perpetrators are held to account, which would act as a deterrent.

• Investigative and prosecutorial processes should be strengthened, including through the provision of adequate resources to the local police and courts, so that reported cases can be managed properly through the criminal justice system.

• Further research into the factors that drive IPV and the forms of control and prevention that may prove most effective should be undertaken to ensure the safety and well-being of women at rural higher education institutions.

33 This section is based on addresses and a discussion that were moderated by Zimisele Mlumiso, HeForShe Ambassador, CPUT.

34 This section is based on an address delivered by Lonia Maswanganye, PhD student, University of Limpopo.

9.2 A reflexive and gender lens: Exploring genderbased violence in and through conversations –challenges and opportunities 35

Gender-based violence has been deﬁned as harm that is perpetrated against a person or group of people on the basis of their actual or perceived sex. It can also entail harm on the basis of what has been described as secondary discrimination – for example, on the basis of an individual’s sexuality.

Understanding of the phenomenon and those affected by it can be reached through reading books and research over the internet. However, the human dimension of the phenomenon may best be understood through conversations which can produce a more rounded sense of the complexity of the people involved, and enable identiﬁcation of the factors that promote or constrain GBV.

In particular, conversations can reveal the extent to which stereotypes fail to capture the complexity of those who are affected and may produce prejudice instead.

People are often stereotyped by others in positive and negative ways on the basis of their colour, their mannerisms, their dress and their ways of speaking. For example, I am, and may be characterised as, coloured, male and gay. But this does not mean that I speak for all members of those groups; nor does it mean that those are the only factors deﬁning my identity.

For example, in my work, I am a teaching practice coordinator and a member of the applications and languages committees in my department at the university. I also participate in the provincial advisory board on foundation and intermediate phase education, which provides me with a strong sense of what is happening on the ground in the local schools where the teachers whom I train will work.

I am also a member of the educational quality forum at CPUT and a member of a faculty events committee and a professionalism and ethics committee. In addition, I am a GBV champion on the institutional transformation committee in my department and actively promote the work of the Amajita’s Men’s Programme and the HIV/Aids Unit, including by helping to facilitate their events. I consider this last work particularly important as a way of ensuring that my voice, which can be marginalised as the voice of the “other” in society at large, is heard in these spaces.

Outside my work, I am learning the violin, I play the trumpet and I play the organ at church. I am also an uncle.

However, other people seem to be more interested in what I do in the bedroom that in all my other portfolios and activities – even as this misrepresents the totality of my experiences. In fact, different aspects of my identity are foregrounded at different moments. For example, when I am sitting with my nephews and nieces, I am their uncle – they are not interested in me as a PhD student or a lecturer and these aspects of my identity remain in the background. Similarly, the academics and prospective teachers with whom I engage should be able to balance their various identities, drawing a distinction between the aspects that they foreground and those left in the background.

35 This section is based on an address delivered by Clive Brown, Lecturer and Teaching Practice Coordinator and PhD student, CPUT.

When I matriculated more than 20 years ago, a teacher said of me: “What a pity he is like that.” The meaning was clear then and now – he was referencing my sexuality and aspects of my behaviour. Now, in my work training teachers, I seek to ensure that they never use such a phrase. CPUT is the largest producer of teachers in the Western Cape – and as such has a responsibility to ensure that everyone – and in particular the pupils who will be taught by its teachers – is treated with the respect they deserve and are not judged on the basis of their colour, their dress, their appearance, their manner of speech, their sexuality, their gender, or their family background. Against this background, the conceptual paper that I am producing for my PhD deploys three main theoretical frameworks:

• Critical phenomenology, which enables an analysis of the way in which power relations can shape people’s experiences in particular spaces;

• Autobiographical or self-study research, which entails reﬂection on one’s practice through the lens of personal experience; and

• The pedagogy of disruption, which informs the curriculum for teacher training at CPUT.

In particular, the paper considers how I have integrated these theoretical approaches and the lessons of my own experience into the teacher training curriculum.

For many of the student-teachers arriving at CPUT, this can be the ﬁrst time that they are congregating in a diverse space. In response, they tend to look for comfort in the classroom, sitting with other coloured or black or white people in the classroom; and seek to work in familiar spaces when undertaking teaching practice. So, for example, if they hail from Mitchells Plain, they may want to practice their teaching skills there, in a place where they are with “their own kind”.

In fact, the quest for comfort is understandable. After all, many of the students are ﬁrst-generation, which means that their family may be unable to provide them with relevant support when they enter the alien environment of a university.

However, a key aim of the teacher-training curriculum is to produce teachers who can operate in the South African context, which is a multicultural one – and not merely to prepare teachers so that they can work in the same townships where they were raised. Accordingly, the students have to practice their teaching in a variety of contexts – and this entails the introduction of a pedagogy of discomfort, which aims to help students realise that they need to shift from a space of comfort to one of discomfort, while also providing them with the necessary support at an institutional level.

9.3 A developmental approach for the prevention of GBV 36

Gender-based violence contributes signiﬁcantly to the rate of violent crime in South Africa which is among the highest in the world. There has been a reliance on law enforcement and the criminal justice system to respond to the challenge posed by GBV. However, the criminal justice system is overloaded with cases related to gender-based violence and its response, which is reactive and can be quite ineffective, has proved insufﬁcient. Therefore, sustainable approaches are required, such as a developmental approach which seeks to address the factors that drive gender-based violence, as well as the underlying causes of the phenomenon.

36 This section is based on an address delivered by Leslie Siegelaar, Lecturer and PhD student, Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, CPUT.

In an effort to address the challenge presented by gender-based violence, President Cyril Ramaphosa held a GBV summit in 2018 which promoted the notion of a national, coordinated, multi-sectoral strategic response. Clearly, CPUT has an institutional responsibility to engage in supporting this. In this context, scholars have noted that too few of the programmes that have been established to combat GBV are developmental and evidence-based. So, the aim of the present study, which is titled “A community participation approach for the prevention of violent crime in the Cape metropole” is to sketch the requirements of a developmental approach that speaks to gender-based violence and femicide and how such an approach may be supported by evidence-based strategies.

A developmental approach should entail the participation of potential victims and probable perpetrators and should foster social learning, capacity building and empowerment. It should also be sustainable, thereby offering a long-term solution to the challenges posed by gender-based violence.

The approach may be supported by evidence-based research that focuses on identiﬁed underlying causes and drivers of gender-based violence – indicating an important role for research institutions, such as universities of technology, which could help to construct effective developmental approaches while also participating in evidence-based social crime prevention.

Accordingly, the present study aims to identify a role for academic institutions in supporting community efforts to establish programmes and projects combatting GBV, as well as the ways in which these institutions may transform their own institutional environments.

A key strength of the developmental approach to GBV is that it addresses and can reduce social risk factors at the individual, family, school (peer group) and community levels, by contrast with the approach adopted by the criminal justice system which focuses only on offending. This is not meant to decry the importance of, or need for, the criminal justice system, but rather to indicate its limitations.

Development has been deﬁned as a continuous process of improving a country’s social conditions and well-being. On this basis, the building blocks of a developmental approach are community participation; social learning; capacity building; empowerment; and sustainable development.

If a developmental approach is implemented successfully, it can lead to collective efficacy, which has been defined as a confluence of networks, values and norms that combine to enable individuals and communities to intervene to suppress deviant behaviour and maintain social order. In other words, such an approach could lead to GBV being combatted at source.

If a developmental approach is implemented successfully, it can also lead to conscientisation, which can be deﬁned as a heightened perception of social political and economic contradictions that can lead to action being taken against oppressive elements of reality.

To be successful, the developmental approach should be forged on the basis of evidence and analytics derived from research. In addition, it should feature a theory of change which can explain why a particular community intervention is needed and why and how it should be effective.

A social-economic ecological lens should be adopted as the theoretical frame for such developmental

work, placing the emphasis on the interactions between individuals, and their relationships with their communities and society more broadly, as the dynamic which determines whether they are likely to become either victims or transgressors.

Academic institutions have a key role to play in such efforts through their community-engagement and service-learning functions. They are well placed to leverage these functions not only to produce research and training outputs for their own academics and students, but also as a means of producing a broader, evidence-based understanding of, and training on, how community participation, social learning, capacity building, empowerment and sustainable development can be fostered in pursuit of the broader goal of socio-economic transformation.

Universities and colleges also have a key role to play at the institutional level, particularly in relation to the three goals that have been identiﬁed as priorities for the post-school sector under the NSP on GBV. That is, the creation of an enabling environment; the promotion of prevention and awareness; and the provision of support and assistance.

In this regard, the goal of promoting staff and student safety through awareness and prevention programmes may be an area in which the adoption of a developmental approach supported by evidence-based strategies would be of value. Under this approach, prevention efforts, which should include possible victims and perpetrators, could enhance collective efﬁcacy through the establishment of a conﬂuence of networks against gender-based violence and may also entail conscientisation in an effort to augment participation.

In adopting a developmental approach, whether within the institution or among local communities, a number of questions need to be considered. For example:

• In promoting community participation, whose reality counts? The student’s or the lecturer’s or the Dean’s? Whose reality must be addressed in order to focus on the root causes?

• Will the envisaged participation lead to social learning in terms of behavioural change and modiﬁed social reproduction?

• Does the initiative entail authentic capacity-building capacity and empowerment?

• Is the programme sustainable? Would it continue once the instigator withdrew from the community?

So, there is a clear need to monitor whether and how the developmental initiative is promoting social learning, capacity building, participation and sustainability.

In addition, given that the developmental approach should be evidence-based, there is a need to generate evidence of strategies that speak to behaviour. This evidence should be analysed and, as appropriate, should form the basis for the establishment and implementation of initiatives. This process may be a continuous one – as one kind of behaviour is addressed effectively, the focus should turn to the next area of behaviour.

By creating such evidence and using it in social crime prevention, the university would be in a position to speak to the issue of gender-based violence and how best to prevent such violence with authority. In this context, it has been suggested that CPUT establish a centre that addresses and seeks to provide support in relation to GBV and its prevention.

9.4 Women academics’ bullying experiences in higher education as a manifestation of GBV 37

I stand here as the leader of an organisation that promotes women as leaders in higher education; as a former academic; as a former union leader; and as someone who has been a victim of workplace bullying in a sector, which notwithstanding its efforts at transformation, remains disproportionately populated by white males.

In this context, the discourse around GBV tend to frame sexual harassment in physical terms as assault. However, sexual harassment can also manifest in verbal and psychological ways – and it is important to name such forms of sexual harassment which may be less visible and can be disregarded, so that they can be effectively addressed in policy-making.

Gender-based violence may be deﬁned as harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is a form of violence rooted in gender inequality and the abuse of power.

While gender-based violence has been a subject of intensive research in higher education, relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to workplace bullying as a form of GBV – even though millions of women are compelled to work in degrading, hostile or intimidating settings, and experience sexual harassment, including inappropriate jokes and comments or unwanted physical contact, on a daily basis.

Such bullying can take a number of forms, including face-to-face harassment and online intimidation. For example, a common form of harassment in the workplace is to copy or blind copy emails about the victim’s performance to people who are not directly concerned with the matter in an effort to besmirch their reputation.

In general, workplace bullying may be deﬁned as repeated, less favourable treatment of an individual which may be considered unreasonable and inappropriate. In terms of workplace practices, it includes behaviour that intimidates, offends, degrades or humiliates a worker, possibly in front of other workers, or clients or customers.

The main perpetrators of workplace bullying are individuals who occupy a supervisory or managerial position in relation to the victim. Such behaviour is termed “vertical” bullying. There is also “horizontal” bullying by peers and “upward” bullying from individuals who are ostensibly being supervised by the victim.

A number of the 25 women at three South African universities who were interviewed for the present study described how professors, apparently working under their supervision, had openly deﬁed them and contested their decisions. They described how these professors had argued that their scholarly expertise and the inﬂuence as major fundraisers exempted them from being supervised. For example, one professor reportedly told his female supervisor that she could go and report him – but that since he was raising the funds that paid for her salary, she would be disregarded. In the face of such behaviour, many women tend to stay silent for fear of being stigmatised.

37 This section is based on an address delivered by Brightness Mangolothi, Director, HERS-SA.

Gaslighting represents a further particularly invidious form bullying, which can lead to the victim questioning their grip on reality.

The present study, which also interviewed union representatives and HR staff and considered policies addressing sexual harassment in the workplace at universities, found that the bullying could also take the form of a mob approach. Under this approach, a group of colleagues come together to make allegations about the victim. Given the way in which decisions at universities tend to favour the majority view over that of an individual, such bullying can achieve its goal of discrediting the person being targeted.

This is a particular concern given that while Africans are a majority in South African society, they still generally represent a minority at many of the country’s universities. In fact, black academics have reported a number of negative experiences at work although there has been little scholarship on this phenomenon to date.

In this context, it can happen that a black woman is appointed to a leadership role at a university in the name of transformation and may even be celebrated accordingly, but is then not provided with the support required to lead – and may be forced to resign.

The international literature on bullying has tended to focus on its prevalence, ﬁnding that bullying is particularly widespread in the education and public sectors. Accordingly, much attention has been paid to school bullies who grow up, go to work and continue bullying.

The literature has also focussed on the kinds of behaviour that constitute bullying. So, for example, a number of forms of workplace bullying have been identiﬁed, including work-related bullying; personal (direct) bullying; and personal (indirect) bullying.

Examples of workplace bullying can include supervisors who ﬂaunt their status and exert unnecessary control over resources, arbitrarily over-ruling the suggestions and decisions of their victims, and changing their mind and reversing agreed positions – such as by refusing to allow someone to attend a conference after saying that they could go.

Workplace bullies may make sexual advances and seek transactional sex – and, if rebutted, may then impose an excessive workload, over-monitor the victim’s performance and unfairly criticise them. Workplace bullies can be quite strategic, they may openly praise their victim, while undermining them behind their back – they are then able to claim that they always offered support to their victim. The research into bullying also considers outcomes – the ways in which the victim’s mental and physical health may be harmed and the damage to careers that can result. For example, the bully may be a gatekeeper to opportunities, such as the manager who controls attendance at conferences; the editor of an important journal; or even one’s PhD supervisor. In such cases, any attempt to speak out may compromise the victim’s career prospects.

In terms of institutional efforts to prevent workplace bullying, policies advocating zero tolerance have been widely introduced – however, implementation of these policies can fall to the perpetrators who will misuse and misquote the policy to their own ends. The policies also tend to overlook secondary factors, such as the obligation of management to assist

the bullied and the bullies when cases come to light; as well as the issue of the role of observers. The present research has found that there are no innocent observers. People are always choosing a side, even when they choose to be silent or claim to be “neutral”.

The present study uses intersectional theory to reveal the complex nature of workplace bullying in the South African context. The experiences of victims differ according to the intersecting nature of their identities. For example, the study has found that young, black non-South African junior academics are most at risk of workplace bullying; and that while white women experience bullying, the extent and kind of the bullying that they face is not as severe as that experienced by their African peers.

In addition, it was found that, in general, white people are bullied by their supervisors, while African academics are being bullied at multiple levels – by their students, their colleagues, their supervisors and even by external stakeholders. (In one case, young white men openly stated that they could not report to a black woman.) In other words, intersectional analysis reveals that bullying can take place on the basis of colour and gender.

In order to address workplace bullying in a sustainable way, a holistic, multi-stakeholder, multi-pronged approach is required. The causes of, and risks posed by, workplace bullying need to be dissected in order to reach a proper understanding of how bullying is being mediated and can be buffered. In this regard, it is noteworthy that white women who are bullied report leveraging support in their institutions, compared with black women who talk of sourcing support from their families or from colleagues in other institutions, indicating how alienated and isolated they are in their own places of work.

Bullying also need to be framed beyond individual cases as an issue at the meso- and institutional levels. In this regard, there needs to consideration of the roles being played by co-workers and the signals being sent through the institutional culture and by the leadership. In addition, bullying should be considered in the larger macro-political and -economic context. For example, in times of economic instability, victims of workplace bullying are less likely to speak out for fear of losing their jobs.

In practical terms, there is a need to develop an approach that not only prevents bullying, but also seeks to rehabilitate those who have experienced bullying.

9.5 Discussion

In identifying and responding to the root causes of GBV, it is important to consider the impacts of the triple burden of poverty, unemployment and inequality and how this inﬂuences individuals, families, communities and society. It is also important to interrogate the ways in which family life is shaped by community life and vice versa.

The Amajita’s Men’s Programme at CPUT addresses the issue of how boys and young men are being, and have been, raised; and seeks to promote a greater understanding of the harm caused by gender inequality so that men can become more aware of their role in combatting GBV. The programme’s efforts to communicate its mission and expand its membership via social media should be actively supported by the university’s leadership.

Victims of GBV should be encouraged to report all incidents so that would-be perpetrators are stopped in their tracks.

38 This section is based on a plenary discussion.

The internal disciplinary process, under which staff members accused of GBV may be held to account, should be reviewed bearing in mind how union ofﬁcials who may be obliged to represent the accused staff can be perceived as guilty by association. Given that accusations of GBV can lead to staff being dismissed, it is important to ensure that all such cases are adequately substantiated. This would diminish the risk of accusations of GBV being used to harass staff.

There are identiﬁed gaps in university codes of good practice in relation to workplace bullying that need to be addressed. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) provides useful guidelines on this. A way forward would be to take the internationally recommended legal provisions and adapt them to the South African context.

As a theoretical approach, intersectionality is not just limited to questions of social identity and the ways in which power is deployed at an interpersonal level. Through its application of a social ecological model, it also identiﬁes the ways in which intersectional experiences are systematically produced and supported. For example, universities may be seen as gendered, racially-prejudiced and class-biased institutions – in part by virtue of who is at the helm and also as a result of how power is distributed within the institution, with the interests of certain groups being privileged over those of others. In other words, there are in-groups and out-groups at university and this differentiation, and the power that ﬂows from it, is informed by social identities.

In this regard, the ways in which universities are a microcosm of society can be under-appreciated. Individuals from across society bring themselves to work, but once they enter the gates, they may be required to assimilate for acceptance so that they are not the target of bullying.

It is also important to look at how historical legacies have shaped the present socio-economic context. For example, apartheid is still present today in a number of ways – for example, when a black academic’s privileges are removed.

10. GBV, RELIGION AND CULTURE: SPIRITUALITY AND SOCIAL FACTORS; AND GBV AND SEXUALITY 39

10.1 Keynote address: GBV within the socioeconomic context 40

Despite all claims to the contrary, African people are culturally one. In Nigeria, Kenya, Kemet (Egypt) and South Africa, people pour water in greeting and say “Life to you!” The greeting derives meaning from the water, which is considered the source of life. However, after the colonisers came with their European languages and imposed their ways, people started to say, and still say: “Good morning!” –but without knowing what it means. And Africans came to frown on traditional greetings and blessings. In such ways, Africans have become strangers to themselves. In losing their languages, which are the

39 This section is based on addresses and a discussion that were moderated by Dr Sisanda Nkoala, Senior Lecturer, Media Department, CPUT.

40 This section is based on an address delivered by Prof Simphiwe Sesanti, Faculty of Education, University of the Western Cape (UWC).

memory banks of their culture and the carriers of their history, they have lost themselves. When I ask an isiXhosa speaker what is the word for “vagina” in isiXhosa, they giggle in embarrassment. They think the English word “vagina” is acceptable, but they think that the isiXhosa word sounds rude because Africans have been made to believe that their languages are vulgar and barbaric. In isiXhosa, the word for “mother” tells of the origins of life – of the vagina as the gateway to the world through which all humans must pass. This reality should be explained to the children and the youth so that they can come to realise that the vagina is not something to be violated. The best way to deliver this message is through graphic language – things must be called by their names.

In the kraal, people tend to describe their genealogy in terms of the father’s clan. Africans are taught that they are their father’s children, and home has become identiﬁed with the father. The mother’s side is trivialised. However, the reality is that while everyone knows who their mother is, they may be less sure about who their father is. This uncertainty created insecurity among men, who then decided to abandon the teachings of their ancestors so that their name could be passed down to the children.

Historically, families were named after the mother’s side. In line with this tradition, the nephews and nieces who are the children of daughters occupy a special place in African cultural communities, receiving particular cuts of meat that are not given to the children of sons at celebrations. The ﬁrst home of all people is the womb. The biblical story that woman came from a man’s rib has been told and often repeated, but no one has ever witnessed such a thing. However, actual childbirth has been witnessed, which is why women are considered sacred.

Under Christianity, women are blamed for messing up the world; and God is called “our father in heaven”. Following this doctrine, arrogant men saw themselves as being shaped in the image of God – and accordingly claimed the right to give and take life.

But the African ancestors taught differently. Historically in African culture, God was conceived as a spiritual being with both female and male attributes. Similarly, the African ancestors are both female and male. When Africans honour or revere their ancestors, they revere both females and males.

The term ubuntu, which is used to describe a philosophy of kindness and generosity, derives from the isiXhosa word for “breast”, ibele, because the ancestors understood how the act of breastfeeding is an act of generosity performed by women in their role as the ﬁrst providers.

The ancestors also taught that the womb is the first home, and that women, as well as being the first providers, are also the first defenders of life. When a woman becomes pregnant, she has to choose how to walk; what to eat and what not to eat; how to sleep and how not to sleep; and what position to hold and what position not to hold, so as to protect human life. The ancestors taught this. African culture and philosophy taught this.

But then, under colonialism, Africans were exposed to strange new voices that claimed women were inferior. Subsequently, a number of unpalatable teachings were smuggled into African culture – for example, the idea that boys undergoing initiation should think that they are men because their foreskins have been cut, even as they continue to behave like boys.

These boys are taught foolishness. They are taught that when their initiation school is finished, they must find a woman and have sex with them – even though the prescription to violate another human in this way flies in the face of African culture. However, the youth do as they have been instructed because, as Africans, they have been turned into zombies who will do what they are told without thinking twice. In his 1948 article, “When can we talk of an African Renaissance?”, Senegalese scholar and panAfrican scholar Cheikh Anta Diop wrote that until Africans reclaim their African languages they will never be able to reclaim their humanity because they will not be cognisant and sensitive to all the elements of language that teaches them what it is, and what it means, to be human.

10.2 Influence of religion and culture on GBV in Mankweng Area, Limpopo 41

This study, which is in progress, seeks to explore the influence of religion and culture on genderbased violence; and how gender-based violence may be justified on the basis of traditional beliefs and practices about how women and girls should be treated. The research comprises findings from interviews undertaken with 15 purposively sampled respondents in the Mankweng policing area in Limpopo province.

The research has also entailed a review of the literature so that the interview ﬁndings may be placed in context. This review found that:

• A culture in which gender-based violence and misogyny are prevalent normalises abuse and promotes aggressive and toxic forms of masculinity under which men are able to deny or even justify their acts of violence against women.

• The South African liberation struggle, to which many African men were recruited, promoted the idea that violence constitutes a legitimate means of resolving conﬂict. It further fostered a culture of masculinity as tough, aggressive, brutal and competitive.

• Notwithstanding South Africa’s relatively peaceful transition to democracy in 1994, the legacy of apartheid persists, affecting everyone in the country in one way or another, according to Rape Crisis. Against this background, an oppressive patriarchy based on religious and cultural norms has produced an environment in which women and children of all races and classes are oppressed by force, including in sexual relationships, leading to a continual rise in gender-based violence.

• The literature suggests that although there is no history of gender-based violence in African culture, women have historically shown that they can just be as violent as men.

• The literature further suggests that there is a clear connection between religion and the oppression of women. Women are more likely to be victims of GBV in societies and communities where religion is widespread. The more religious a community, the greater the prevalence of the violence.

• Most men in South Africa have at some point or another in their relationship with a woman or in their marriage hit, slapped, shoved or insulted their spouse at home out of anger. In addition, although physical harm of any kind inﬂicted on anyone by another person constitutes a criminal offence which may be severely penalised, there is a widespread acceptance of the occasional use of violence in relationships as a matter of routine by both the perpetrators and the victims. In this regard, bystanders can be quick to produce reasons for why women may be beaten by men.

41 This section is based on an address delivered by Sekwaila Mamabolo, PhD student, University of Limpopo.

Against this background, the present study interrogated the ways in which Sepedi proverbs and idioms may be considered demeaning and oppressive towards women, as well as supportive of patriarchy and likely to normalise gender-based violence. For example, there is one proverb that may be translated as “a woman grabs a knife by the blade”; and another that says “a woman’s grave is at her in-laws”. The present study has also considered how women who are religious may experience and navigate abusive relationships. Religion plays a major role in people’s lives and many of the decisions that people make may be inﬂuenced and guided by their religious practices. People can deploy religion to improve their own lives and those of others. Religious beliefs can also foster violence and tolerance of violence. For example, a woman experiencing domestic violence may feel that she must accept the abuse if she is not to break her marriage vows. She may also fear that should she speak out, her congregation would not believe her and would instead stand by her abusive partner. This can become a particularly keen fear in cases where the abuser is perceived as devout or is actually a religious leader.

Ephesians 5:22 says “Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord”. The prescription is often taken out of context to mean that women should be subject to the bidding of their male partners regardless. However, the biblical injunction, which applies only in the case of marriages, in fact stipulates that wives should show love to their husbands regardless of whether they feel their husband deserves it and that such love should be reciprocal. Nowhere in the Bible is a woman commanded to make herself and her children available for abuse.

One of the recommendations emerging from the present study is that there should be more effective GBV awareness campaigns so that community members better appreciate the value of gender equality and work towards it.

10.3 Conversations with isangoma in Limpopo

Province on the contribution of ‘love

potions’ to intimate partner violence in South Africa 42

The present study, which may be framed as a response to the rising interest in indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in academia, was undertaken in Capricorn and Mobani districts in Limpopo and entailed one focus group and four semi-structured interviews with nine traditional healers.

It found that love potions, or korobela, are increasingly used by individuals seeking to exert control over other people’s bodies and affections. This was not the way that such potions used to be used. Formerly, they would be administered in an effort to reinforce the bonds between husbands and wives, including in polygamous marriages, and thus strengthen the household. And they would be taken consensually. However, as old socio-cultural forms, including the family, have been reshaped – and the value attached to these forms and the importance of spirituality has dissipated – the rationale for the administration of love potions also changed.

Now, the traditional practice of administering love potions has been appropriated as a means of controlling partners without their consent. The modern approach no longer involves couples seeking help. Rather, the man or woman goes alone to the healer, often in response to information that they

42 This section is based on an address delivered by Knightingale Lulu Mmakola, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Limpopo.

have found via the internet. In this respect, social media has played a role in decontextualising the original reasons for taking love potions, which has led to more people wanting to use them.

As a result, the partner who takes the potion, which may be transmitted sexually or administered through their food, can be unaware that they have been dosed. They only know that their behaviour is changing and that they feel drawn to this other person without knowing why.

Individuals who seek to dose others with love potions do so for a number of reasons. If it is a woman who is administering the potions, she may be seeking to control her rich, handsome partner and ensure that he only has eyes for her. However, such efforts can backﬁre when the individual who has been dosed discovers that they have been turned into a zombie under another person’s control. The victim is likely to become angry that they have been manipulated into staying in a relationship under false pretences.

Against this background, the present study interrogated whether traditional healers who were providing love potions had been educating their clients about the repercussions of using these potions. For example, the possibility that the man being dosed may want to stop working because they are now only focussed on their beloved and will follow them everywhere. In such a situation, how would the beloved extricate themselves it they tired of the man?

The traditional healers said that sometimes they hand out love potions without advising the client that they should be careful. They also advised that they preferred to prescribe love potions to married couples instead of people who were single, but that their clientele increasingly comprised younger women wanting to woo a married man away from his wife, or wanting to hold onto a man who may be her only, or main, source of income.

The healers said that women generally wanted to use love potions because they were unwilling to accept that the relationship with the beloved had run its course, and were jealous of the possibility of someone else winning his heart. They also sought to use love potions for monetary gain. For example, one healer cited the case of a young woman who wanted to dose the local school principal, so that he would care for her ﬁnancially.

Given this shift in the reasons for using these potions, the traditional healers generally agreed that love potions and love spells may contribute to GBV and IPV.

Further research on this topic should interrogate whether traditional healers can shed further light on the potential drivers of GBV that they encounter. In particular, efforts should be undertaken to coordinate with traditional healers on the kinds of advice that they can give and actions they may take to help prevent GBV. In this regard, it is important to note that the aim should not be to frame or ban African rituals as harmful, rather the approach should be to acknowledge that it is the purpose or intention of the individual deploying the ritual that can be the problem – and that this is what needs to be addressed.

The research has also produced a number of clear lessons for young women. For example, if the young woman’s relationship is in trouble and may be ending, they should seek counselling so that they can identify and address the problems they are facing, rather than reaching for love potions and letting the problems fester, which may lead to violence. In this regard, young women would also be particularly well advised to accept the fact, if their relationship is over – and to walk away and stay away.

10.4 Discussion 43

In Venda culture, men and women are assigned different roles and responsibilities, and women can enjoy significant respect and authority. For example, the position of “regent aunt” is one of great influence in traditional Venda family structures. Sepedi proverbs should be understood in this context even as they may subject to a different interpretation in contemporary society. So, from an historical perspective, the saying that “a woman’s grave is at her in-laws” may be understood as reflecting on women’s socialreproductive responsibilities as the primary care-givers in the home; while the men operated outside the domestic environment, risking their lives in the hunt.

The saying may also be placed in a traditional matrilineal context, under which married women retained their maiden names and remained part of their original families, even as they were obliged to join their husband’s family. Under this system the husband was obliged not only to take his new wife into his household but also to continue providing support for her family, while the ﬁrst ancestors to which the children of their union would be introduced were the ancestors of the mother. In this way, including through the practice of lobola, the man’s family was re-centred around the woman. In this context, the saying that “a woman ﬁnds her grave at her husband’s family” should not be read as a matter of celebration – but rather as a sad statement of fact that, although the woman continues to belong to her own family, she has now left it.

In modern Xhosa culture, the woman is told to stay at their husband’s home through thick and thin; and she and her family fear being stigmatised were she to return to her own family home. But in fact, her parents should support her if her marriage is failing and she wants to return to her parents’ home.

The modern practice of administering love potions to control others stems from the dissolution of the cultural values that used to guide individuals in African communities, indicating a need to restore the culture embedded in African languages. In this regard, the curriculum should seek to fostering a sense of identity and “being” among young Africans. If the youth can come to know themselves, they will not be driven to seek an external locus of control, such as love potions.

Under traditional African primary education, the child should be brought to know themselves – and not on the basis of their imagination but on the basis of the philosophy of ubuntu. This philosophy proposes that the individual does not exist in isolation and advances an ethical system under which the behaviour of the individual reﬂects on their family – if an individual disgraces themselves, they disgrace their family; and if they do well, they bring honour and dignity to the family.

But the colonial system of schooling destroyed African education and established in its place institutions that were designed to divest Africans of their dignity and autonomy so that would remain at all times mimics and fools. And as black people were stripped of their humanity and abused by white people, black men turned on black women in line with the system of oppression that had come to dominate them.

There are medical councils for traditional practitioners which seek to regulate the ways in which medicines and treatment should be prescribed and which may recommend that love potions should only be administered to consenting couples. However, not all traditional healers belong to such councils; and although some healers will advise clients seeking love potions that they should rather return with their partners, others will sell the potions to individuals so that they can make a proﬁt.

43 This section is based on a plenary discussion.

11. PUBLICATION OF SCHOLARLY BOOK BASED ON PRESENTATIONS 44

11.1 Guidelines for scholarly book publication45

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) is a statutory research agency partly funded by the state. The council is the home to the HSRC Press, which publishes scholarly books and school and university textbooks, mainly in the ﬁelds of the humanities and the social sciences.

HSRC Press is an open-access publisher – in other words, it makes its books available online so that they can be read or downloaded for free. It publishes about 20 books a year, of which perhaps only two or so are by HSRC researchers/authors.

Proposals for new books are vetted by a commissioning editor at the HSRC Press; overseen by an editorial board comprising ten academics from South Africa; and blind-reviewed in line with Department of Higher Education and Training requirements. About 55% of proposals are accepted for publication.

Under the blind-review process, copies of the proposal are sent for comment to two academics who are not supposed to know who the author is (and vice versa). If the potential author is known to the reviewer, then the reviewer must sign a statement indicating that they will take an objective view of the text. The aim is to source impartial assessments of the material that has been presented. HSRC Press undertakes marketing in relation to the volumes that is produces in collaboration with Blue Weaver in South Africa, and with Lynne Rienner and other foreign publishers if the book is to be distributed internationally.

HSRC Press produces scholarly books. The text for a scholarly book should be the product of a wellinformed, skilled, original and systematic investigation that has been undertaken in order to produce reliable new knowledge and understanding. Knowledge may be considered “new” on the basis of the research methodology or design that has been deployed, or the literature that is being presented, as well as in terms of the other content. A book proposal can be rejected on the grounds that the proposed volume contains no new knowledge.

In developing research for publication, a number of steps need to be followed. Some of these are similar to those that guide the production of a PhD. For example, the author should note what is excluded by and included in the research and why. The author should also ensure that they cite and reference all ideas and information from the literature that they are intending to deploy.

A book proposal should include an abstract of each of the proposed chapters and a complete introduction. This introduction should provide an overview, including in relation to the methodology and literature that form the basis of the research. The review of the methodology and literature must not be presented as separate sections as they are for a PhD. If a scholar seeking to turn their PhD into a book separates this information and fails to integrate it properly, the editorial board will probably note this and will be unimpressed.

44 This section is based on addresses and a discussion that were moderated by Clement Matasane, Research Manager, CPUT. 45 This section is based on an address delivered by Mthunzi Nxawe, Commissioning Editor, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).

In this regard, it should be noted that although HSRC Press does publish PhDs that have been turned into a book, it will coordinate to ensure that these have been converted properly. In addition, given the volume of PhD theses being produced, the Press is quite selective in choosing such material for publication. HSRC Press does not publish the proceedings of conferences – although it may publish a volume based on the papers that emerge from a meeting.

In their book proposal, the author should provide a rationale for the research, bearing in mind that a scholarly book is written for the beneﬁt of other academics – and that the research presented must be based on evidence. A scholarly book is built on ﬁrmer ground than off-the cuff thoughts or practical advice

The book proposal should provide an overall conceptualisation of the book’s contents. In the case of an edited volume, it should address the issue of style, assuring the publisher that there will be consistency across the pieces produced by the various contributors.

In addition to a strong analytical introductory chapter and a clear outline of the contents, the editorial board may want to see at least two chapters from the main body of the text so that they can get a sense of how the author will actually be realising their plan for the volume in writing.

The author should also provide biographical information on themselves, including in relation to their education and other scholarly outputs. They should provide a synopsis of their proposal and a draft title for the volume. In addition, they should say whether they have sent the proposal to any other publisher/s for consideration.

The conceptual focus of the book and the kinds of evidence that will be presented can have a signiﬁcant bearing on whether it ﬁnds favours with a publisher and readers. For example, the HSRC volume Black Academic Voices: The South African Experience was originally tentatively rejected by the editorial board at the Press, although the idea for the volume was considered to be of value. Subsequently, the board and editors at the Press worked with the editors and authors to realise the potential of the concept – and the book became a best-seller.

Authors need to reﬂect on who will be likely to read their book and, on this basis, how they intend to market it. Authors have a responsibility to market their own work.

Sometimes authors will add chapters that they have published previously – for example, in journals. When including previously published work, the publisher needs to know who holds the copyright on that material so that they can apply for copyright themselves.

HSRC is not obliged to publish approved manuscripts. At the same time, it welcomes funding support that may be offered by the author or their organisation to defray publishing costs and lower the price of the published book, thus making it more affordable to readers.

Once the book has been published, a letter conﬁrming publication and the peer approval process, which takes place in line with DHET guidelines, is provided. This can be used by the author to access funding from their institution and/or the National Research Foundation (NRF), in line with the incentives to produce and publish produced by these bodies.

HSRC Press does not pay royalties to authors; nor does it expect payment of any fees by the author for publishing their work.

11.2 Way forward 46

The aim of the present research indaba has been to produce knowledge on GBV and to promote the academic discourse on this topic. Accordingly, there is a plan to produce an edited volume bringing together the research that has been presented, possibly in coordination with HSRC. Those wishing to contribute to this proposed book may need to rework their papers and would also need to submit them for peer-review. Guidelines and a timeline for this process will be shared by CPUT. In addition, the university will be holding a writers’ retreat in support of producing and ﬁnalising papers to an acceptable standard.

APPENDIX: CANDLE-LIGHTING47

A candle-lighting event was held during the research indaba to commemorate all the survivors and victims of GBV at CPUT and in higher education in South Africa and across the world. The event acknowledged the many forms of GBV and its prevalence in homes and other spaces – and the ways in which young women in South Africa are being forced to live with trauma and stigmatisation as a result. It promoted the view that the world should be made safe for women and that research is needed to achieve this objective in line with the seven goals and 20 aspirations outlined by the African Union’s (AU’s) Agenda 2063, as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

1. Welcoming remarks 48

Songs have been sung, research has been undertaken, books have been written and conversations have been held with the ancestors, but still young students are dying in brutal circumstances. This is a relatively new phenomenon and a reﬂection of contemporary South African society.

When a student is killed, the parents may come to the university to collect the belongings of their dead daughters and sons. They may want to perform rituals at this time. Meanwhile, the other students are traumatised.

Against this background, CPUT must not relent as an institution and must act as a matter of urgency to ensure that the behaviours that contribute to GBV are left at the gate – and that such violence and crimes cannot take place on the institution’s campuses. One death is one death too many. Everyone can make a difference in their own small way in support of this mission.

In seeking to combat GBV there is a need to work with all genders and to ensure that women are protected. In this regard, Amajita’s Men’s Programme can talk to the young men; and more widely, higher education institutions in South Africa can support each other in addressing this scourge. The lives of students and academics must not be threatened by the animosity that can be generated when relationships sour.

In addition, CPUT has an institutional obligation to care for its students, including by offering conﬁdential counselling and services in support of victims of GBV that can help them to heal.

2. A survivor of GBV tells her story 49

46 This section is based on comments made by Kuselwa Marala, Acting Director, Centre for Diversity, Inclusivity and Social Change, CPUT.

47 The speeches at this event were moderated by Brightness Mangolothi, HERS-SA.

48 This speech was made by Professor Chris Nhlapo, Vice-Chancellor of CPUT.

I grew up in Bishop Lavis in Cape Town with my grandparents. There was a bed in one of the buildings in the yard at their home, and my grandfather called me to come there and told me to touch his private parts, before he forced me to perform oral sex and then raped me. I tried to scream but he held his hand across my mouth. He said: “You are not special. I do this to all the girls in the household.” After he had ﬁnished, he gave me a cloth to wipe myself and told me not to tell my grandmother. He continued raping me over a period of time – and at some point, my uncle also started raping me.

One day, he took me to some bushes near the airport road, threatened me with a knife and tied me with a rope. He said: “You think you are clever. But you are not giving me what I want, so I will leave you here.” Then after leaving me on my own for a while, he returned and raped me. Eventually, I told my grandmother about what was happening. She said: “You are too big for your shoes. My husband and my brother-in-law would never do that. You are sleeping with boys and trying to blame them.” Later, at high school, I told my principal but asked him not to tell my family because I was scared they would kill me if they knew.

I was subsequently taken to live in Ravensmead, where I was raped by my uncle. He told me that he knew that I told others about being raped by him, which was going to cause him trouble – and he then went and hung himself in front of me. I was returned to by grandparents’ home, where my grandmother said: “It is your fault. You have killed the breadwinner.”

Soon afterwards, I was found to be pregnant and had to leave school. In fact, I tried to run away from my problems, leaving home to get married. However, after a few months, my new husband started cheating on me. He also became jealous and accused me of sleeping around and of being a “slut”. I had two children with him in the hope that he would come to love me as the mother of his children. Eventually, I divorced him; and my children, who had grown by then, asked: “Why did you stay with him for so long?” I think I felt that I was protecting them by staying with him.

From my own experience my message to women who are victims of GBV is: “Don’t keep quiet, if you are raped. Don’t stay in a marriage with a man who is only interested in having sex with you as if you are a ‘slut’.”

I must also say that such violence produces great trauma. The smell and the breath of the rapist stays with you. I used to wash with household cleaner to get rid of the smell. In this context, CPUT has an obligation to care for students and staff who may be victims of GBV both on and off campus, including by ensuring that there is a space where they can go to be safe from their attacker.

3. Eradicating GBV through research, technology, innovation and partnerships 50 Research may be deﬁned as a quest for truth and new thinking that produces social value and solutions in impactful and congruent ways – for example, by looking at how the behaviours and social norms that give rise to GBV may be changed. In general, higher education institutions should lead from the front in addressing the challenges of the age – and the great harm and violence currently being suffered by women, who comprise half the population of the planet, is one such challenge. The potential victims of GBV live with men in their homes. They suffer labour pains to give birth to boys; they care for boys and men when they are sick; they marry men; and they are responsible for social reproduction. And yet

49 This speech was made by Flora Buffet, who is a staff member at CPUT.

50 This speech was made by Dr David Phaho, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, CPUT.

the harm visited on them appears to be a phenomenon that is widely tolerated. In this context, men must adopt a leadership role in an effort to address this scourge and make the planet a better place for everyone.

The American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once deﬁned success in terms of how people can make the world a safer place for others – “To know one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.” Accordingly, if men care at all for the personal legacy by which they will be remembered, they should look to the example of the groundbreaking actor Sidney Poitier, who was the ﬁrst black man to win an Oscar and who is remembered as a model of courtesy and good works, rather than to the example of the formerly celebrated comedian Bill Cosby who was convicted for sexual assault and disgraced after his behaviour was exposed by the #MeToo movement.

4 Respondent: Student voices 51

GBV affects everyone – teaching staff, support staff and students. Those in power, including SRC ofﬁcials, exploit young women who come to them for help. Against this background, it is imperative that young women students educate themselves: they should not date violent men. Meanwhile, CPUT should protect all victims of GBV who report cases; and anyone who is accused of violating a student should be arrested.

5 Respondent: Institutional Transformation Forum 52

The Vice-Chancellor chairs the institutional committee on gender-based violence at CPUT and has made it clear that a dynamic, accountable and transparent approach entailing multi-stakeholder engagement and including the students is required to address the phenomenon. Action to address the phenomenon should be decisive – there can be no tolerance of GBV – and responsive to the needs of victims.

At present, 38% of femicides are committed by intimate partners; meanwhile, only 1 in 10 women who are sexually assaulted report the rape. So, there is a clear need to support and amplify the voices of the victims of GBV in order to combat stigmatisation and foster an enabling environment in which women who have been attacked can come forward and be supported.

The new information technologies have played an important role in amplifying efforts to combat GBV, both in terms of the campaigns that have been mounted and also in relation to the dissemination of information on the issue of GBV across the university’s faculties and directorates. In general, CPUT’s institutional approach to the phenomenon has helped to foster a space that is vibrant and stimulating so that the topic can be discussed safely and widely.

Meanwhile, the Institutional Transformation Forum has kept abreast of the latest research on the issue. It also logs and updates the statistics on experiences of GBV at CPUT. The aim is to deploy the academic research and the actual data from the university so that practical solutions may be forged. In general, CPUT has sought to educate staff and students across the institution about GBV and to empower women in an effort to promote gender equality.

51 This speech was made by Ramano Mpfunzeni, President of the Student Representative Council, CPUT

52 This speech was made by Prof Paul Green, Dean: Faculty of Business and Management Sciences and Chair of the Institutional Transformation Forum (ITF), CPUT.

12. ADDENDUM

RESEARCH INDABA ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN HIGHER

EDUCATION

Theme:"Craftingtrends,patterns,andawarenessinterventiontocombatGBV"

Date:8 - 9 March 2023

Venue: Auditorium,BellvilleCampus,CapePeninsulaUniversityofTechnology(CPUT)

ThepurposeoftheGBVResearchIndaba istosharelessons,strategies,interventions,practices,andresearch agendas on:

Enhancing, integrated, multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration on gender equality and women empowerment to combat GBV in higher education. Dealingwithchangedbehaviours, social normsandinterventionsthatdriveGBVforstudentsandstaff. Enhancingsustainableand survivor-centredresponse,careandsupportservicesforstudentsandstaff. Sustaining,efficient,safe,andresponsivecampusprotection. Ensuring evidence-basedresearchandintegrationofresearchfocusareas;and Integrating realist evaluation approaches aimed at developing GBV interventions to existing social problems to bring about social change.

DAY 1: 08 MARCH 2023: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

07:45 – 8:55 Registration and refreshmentsAll SESSION1:SETTINGTHEAGENDAAND CENTERING GBV AS A TOOL FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTGOALS(SDGs)

Programme Director:MsBrightnessMangolothi: HERS-SA

CPUT Sign Language Interpreter: Mr Kevin Petersen

09:00–09:05 NationalAnthem CPUT Choir

09:05–09:20 Welcomingandsettingtheagenda

09:20 –09:40 Keynote Address: SustainableDevelopmentGoals(SDGs)and GBV:LocatingtheHigherEducationSector

ProfChrisNhlapo Vice-Chancellor CPUT

Prof Mzikazi Nduna Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences UFH

09:40–09:45 GBVPoemtomarktheInternationalWomen’sDay Nombombiyathe Poet CPUT Alumnus

SESSION 2: GBV INTERVENTIONS AND INTERSECTIONALITY

Facilitator: Ms Brightness Mangolothi: HERS-SA

09:45 – 10:00 Enhancing Girls economic empowerment to eradicate GBV: CPUT’s STEM/STEAMI Flagship Project

10:00 – 10:15 GBV and women in higher education

Prof Driekie Hay-Swemmer Executive Director Office of the Vice-Chancellor CPUT

Mr Ndivhuho Mutshekwa UL

10:15 – 11:25 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION) All

11:25 – 11:40 TEA BREAK

SESSION 3: GBV INTERVENTIONS AND INTERSECTIONALITY THROUGH CROSS SECTIONAL VOICES

Facilitator: Mr Clive Brown: CPUT

11:40 – 11:55 Lived experiences on discriminations and hate crimes: A study of gays and lesbian students from a South African University

11:55 – 12:10 Gender-based violence against men and boys: A hidden problem

12:10 – 12:25 GBV and Disability

Mr Kgothatso Mphahlele UWC

Prof Witness Maluleke

Dr Gilian MrubulaNgwenya: UL

Mr Mandlenkosi Mphatheni UL

Mrs Dellicia de Vos CPUT

12:25 – 12:40 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION) ALL

12:40 - 13:25 LUNCH

SESSION 4: MARKING THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: GBV AND #EmbraceEquity

Programme Director: Ms Brightness Mangolothi: HERS-SA

CPUT Sign Language Interpreter: Mr Kevin Petersen

13:30 – 13:55 Main address to mark the International Women’s Day: Eradicating GBV in Higher Education

13:55 – 14:00 GBV Poem

Honourable Deputy Minister Buti Manamela DHET

Nombombiya the Poet CPUT Alumnus

SESSION 5: GBV MONITORING AND EVALUATION, INCLUDING WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Facilitator: Ms Lucina Reddy: CPUT

14:00 – 14:15 Women empowerment – A proposal for conducting monitoring and evaluation of the mentorship programme at a higher education institution

Dr Nelisiwe Maleka Mr Tumiso Mfisa CPUT

14:15 – 14:20 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION) ALL

SESSION 6: GBV INTERVENTIONS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Facilitator: Ms Mandie Richards: CPUT

14:20 – 14:35 Creating GBV Awareness using Research and Digital Skills in the Basic Education Curriculum

Ms Zenande Williams WSU

Prof Tembisa Ngqondi CPUT

Dr Hope Mauwa UMP

14:35 – 14:50 Development of a transformative Bachelor of Nursing curriculum to improve nursing practice in responding to victims of Gender-Based Violence in the Western Cape

15:05 – 15:20 Twitter as a site for deliberation on gender-based violence: A case study of three South African Universities

15:20 – 15:35 CPUT/ Snake Nation – Using Arts and Technology from students to fight GBV

15:35 – 15:50 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION)

SESSION 7: GBV AND STUDENTS VOICES

Mr Siphesihle Hlophe DUT

Dr Sisanda Nkoala

Dr Blessing Makwambeni CPUT

Mr Tshitso Mosolodi Snake Nation

ALL

Facilitators: Ms Lolwethu Luthuli: CPUT & Ms Likhona Ndongeni: CPUT SRC Deputy President

15:50 – 16:05 Gender- Based Violence in a tertiary institution in the Western Cape, South Africa

16:05 – 16:20 The evaluation of a men’s programme in eradicating gender-based violence (GBV) in a selected higher education institution in South Africa

16:20 – 16:35 Gender-Based Violence: The Reality Faced by Young Women in Higher Education

Mr Bongani Sonqwenqwe CPUT

Mr Tumiso Mfisa CPUT

Ms Melanie Swanson CPUT

16:35 – 16:50 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION) ALL

16:50 – 17:00 TEA BREAK

17:00 – 18:00 Exhibition & GBV information session Social Development, SAPS, NPA + Thuthuzela Care Centre, Sonke Gender Justice, Ilitha Labantu, CPUT Queer Unicorns, Rape Crisis, Planet Uni, HSRC, HERS-SA, Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), Triangle Project etc.

CPUT Stakeholder Programme

Candle Lighting in Honour of GBV Victims

Programme Director: Ms Brightness Mangolothi: HERS-SA

17:45 – 18:00 Registration

18:00 – 18:15 Welcoming Remarks

18:15 – 18:30 “HerStory” from the GBV survivor

18:30 – 18:50 Eradicating GBV through Research, Technology, Innovation and Partnerships aligned to Vision 2030 - One Smart CPUT

Prof Chris Nhlapo Vice-Chancellor CPUT

Ms Flora Buffet CPUT

Dr David Phaho Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Technology, Innovation and Partnerships CPUT

18:50 – 19:00 Respondent: Voices of Students

19:00 – 19:10 Respondent: Institutional Transformation Forum (ITF)

Mr Ramano Mpfunzeni SRC President CPUT

Prof Paul Green Dean: Faculty of Business Management Sciences & Chairperson: ITF CPUT

19:10 – 19:40 GBV short Drama CPUT Arts Society

19:40 – 19:50 Candle Lighting

19:50 – 20:00 Vote of thanks

Ms Brightness Mangolothi HERS-SA

Prof Rishidaw Balkaran Deputy Vice-Chancellor Teaching and Learning CPUT

20:00 – 20:10 Announcement Programme Director

DEPARTURE

DAY 2: 09 MARCH 2023

SESSION 8: MULTI-SECTORAL PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS TO ENHANCE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER INEQUALITY AND GBV

Facilitator: Ms Candice Ludick: END GBVF COLLECTIVE

07:45 – 8:55 Tea/Coffee ALL

09:00 – 9:20 Keynote Speaker: GBV Accountability, Coordination, and Leadership in Higher Education

09:20 – 9:35 Insights from community-based research for gender-based violence in higher education

09:35 – 9:50 GBV Reporting protocol and training approaches to enhance the implementation of the GBV Policy: A CPUT Case Study

09:50 – 10:05 Localising response to National Strategic Plan on GBV and Femicide in Higher Education: A CPUT Case Study

Ms Sixolile Ngcobo Western Cape Provincial Manager (CGE)

Adjunct Prof Engel-Hills CPUT

Prof Hilde Ibsen Karlstad University

Adv. Lizelle Africa Sexual Offences and Community Affairs: National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)

Ms Nonkosi Tyolwana

Ms Kuselwa Marala CPUT

10:05 – 10:20 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION) ALL

10:20 – 11:35 TEA BREAK

SESSION 9: GBV INTERVENTIONS THROUGH CONVERSATIONS AND SUSTAINABLE PREVENTION INITIATIVES

Facilitator: Mr Zimisele Mlumiso: CPUT

11:35 – 11:50 Exploring the contributory factors of intimate partner violence against women in the South African Rural Higher Education Institutions: A Systemic Study.

11:50 – 12:05 A Reflexive and Gender Lens: Exploring Gender-Based Violence in and through conversations: Challenges and Opportunities

12:05 – 12:20 A developmental approach for the prevention of gender- based violence

12:20 – 12:35 Women academics bullying experiences in higher education as a manifestation of GBV

Mrs Lonia Maswanganye

Dr Olinda Chabalala

Prof Witness Maluleke UL

Mr Clive Brown CPUT

Mr Leslie Siegelaar Dr Stanford Cronje CPUT

Ms Brightness Mangolothi HERS-SA

12:35 – 12:50 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION) ALL

12:50 – 13:30 LUNCH

SESSION 10: GBV, RELIGION AND CULTURE: SPIRITUALITY AND SOCIAL FACTORS; AND GBV AND SEXUALITY

Facilitator: Dr Sisanda Nkoala: CPUT

13:30 – 13:50 Keynote Address: GBV within the Socio-Economic Context Prof Simphiwe Sesanti UWC

13:50 – 14:05 Influence of Religion and Culture on Gender-Based Violence in Mankweng Area, Limpopo

14:05 – 14:20 Conversations with iizangoma in Limpopo Province on the contributions of ‘love portion’ to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in South Africa

Mr Sekwaila Mamabolo Prof Witness Maluleke UL

Dr Knightingale Mmakola Dr Gilian MrubulaNgwenya UL

14:20 – 14:35 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION) ALL

14:35 – 14:45 TEA BREAK

ALL

SESSION 11: PUBLICATION OF SCHOLARLY BOOK BASED ON PRESENTATIONS

Facilitator: Mr Clement Matasane: CPUT

14:45 – 15:05 Guidelines for scholarly book publication

Mr Mthunzi Nxawe HSRC

15:05 – 15:20 ENGAGEMENT (DISCUSSION) ALL

15:20 – 15:40 Way Forward

15:40 – 16:00 Vote of Thanks

Ms Kuselwa Marala Acting Director Centre for Diversity, Inclusivity & Social Change CPUT

Prof Driekie Hay-Swemmer Executive Director Office of the Vice-Chancellor CPUT

The Council and Management of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) are guided by the Strategic Plan 2030 Vision, Mission, and Values:

Vision

CPUT is Africa’s leading Smart University of Technology, globally renowned for innovation, with graduates that shape a better world for humanity

Mission

CPUT transforms its students, through world class researchers who inspire knowledge production and innovation that are cutting edge

Values

CPUT agrees to oneness and smartness by:

• Embracing a culture of Ethics and Integrity;

• Seeking Kindness and showing compassion (human heartedness) for the well-being of all our students, staff, stakeholders and the CPUT community, as expressed in ubuntu as a way of living;

• Embracing Restoration as we deal with the legacy of our past and as we redress issues of equality, gender-based violence, and any form of discrimination;

• Being a testimony of Unity (ubunye), whilst embracing diversity (ukungafani) in all its forms by being honest, transparent, credible and respectful;

• Showing Passion and demonstrating enthusiasm, devotion, intensity, tenacity and total commitment to everything that we undertake as a university of technology; delivering uncompromising quality service, and always searching for better ways of doing things;

• Taking Accountability and accepting responsibility for all our actions and the actions that we commit to;

• Being Technologically Astute and understanding, as staff members or students of CPUT who aspire to become technologically astute, that we will embrace and take ownership of and experiment with the possibilities technology offers. These attributes facilitate the novel application of modern technology, enabling the enhancement of productivity and efﬁciency, whilst always focusing on innovation that is centred on a better world.

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