Rape claims rock varsity

RHODES University erupted into chaos when hundreds of students started searching residences for alleged rapists and threatened an academic shutdown when the names of 11 male students accused of rape were posted on social media.

With tensions running high and the number of protesters growing since Sunday night, two of the men whose names appeared on the list were reportedly held against their will and lectures were disrupted yesterday.

The protest arose after the launch of a rape culture awareness campaign which had prompted the Student Representative Council (SRC) to express support.

However, when the SRC tweeted a picture of council members expressing solidarity, a student retweeted the picture, saying her friend’s alleged rapist was in the image.

In the wake of the outrage and class disruptions, the Grahamstown institution has committed to establishing a task team comprising staff and students to ensure stronger mechanisms to support victims of rape and sexual abuse.

Police have also urged students to report such crimes to them, but counsellors claim the alleged victims are reluctant to do so because of the added trauma and low conviction rate.

The topic has been trending on Twitter since Sunday night, under the hashtag #RUreferencelist.

The hashtag refers to the “reference list” in which the 11 names appeared – as students called on university leadership to take action against the alleged perpetrators.

The list has also been circulated on Facebook.

Yesterday, a group of about 60 students disrupted lectures at several departments while awaiting a response from management.

Students also stormed the law faculty, demanding to speak to the dean as some of those being accused are law students.

SRC activism and transformation councillor Naledi Mashishi described the situation at the university as tense “as students are angry at management and the people named on the list”.

She said: “Students are going around disrupting lectures. However, lectures are still ongoing.”

Mashishi said the drama started around 7pm on Sunday when a “reference list” containing the names of past and present students who had been accused of rape was posted anonymously on social media.

Students were angered further after rumours circulated that one of the alleged perpetrators had received a “sentence” of community service or “hours”.

“The students who saw this post wanted to go to the SRC offices because one of the names is that of an SRC member,” Mashishi said.

then left the offices and went and looked for the people on the list.”

The students went to residences including Jan Smuts, Calata, Cullen Bowles, Goldfields and Graham House.

“The group grew to about 200 people,” she said.

“They found two of the people on the list and effectively held them against their will until the early hours of [yesterday] morning.

“The vice-chancellor also came out with campus security last night.”

Mashishi said the group had then congregated at the drama department, where they called for a shutdown of the varsity.

“We decided against a shutdown because if there are victims of rape, they would need access to health and counselling services,” she said.

“The students then voted in favour of an academic shutdown.

“Since [yesterday] morning, a group of about 60 students have been going around campus disrupting lectures.”

University spokeswoman Catherine Deiner said vice-chancellor Sizwe Mabizela had tried to engage with the protesters at three different venues but to no avail.

Mashishi said a rape culture awareness campaign had sparked the growing anger.

“The SRC tweeted a picture of council members expressing our solidarity with this campaign,” she said.

“A student then tweeted the picture, saying her friend’s [alleged] rapist was in the same picture.

“We did not know which council member was being referred to until the list was posted last night.”

Mashishi said students had submitted a list of demands, including an immediate change to the university’s  “outdated” sexual abuse policy and definition of rape.

“Policies are outdated and this makes it difficult for victims to come forward,” she said.

“It also requires victims to prove there was intention to rape them and this makes it difficult for people who are in relationships to report their rape.”

SRC media councillor Tuletu Nelani said: “This all started with the launch of Chapter 212, which is a nationwide campaign around rape culture.

“At our university, students are saying Rhodes management has not done anything regarding allegations of rape.”

Nelani said the naming of alleged perpetrators on social media was “completely wrong and amounts to defamation”.

When a Herald reporter contacted one of those who have been accused, the man shouted: “No comment. No comment,” before dropping the call.

Makana Rape Survivors’ Support Group coordinator Zanyiwe Nzwana said the organisation had assisted two Rhodes students this year who were taken to hospital.

“There is a problem with rape around Grahamstown, but I cannot say if it is a problem at the university,” Nzwana said.

Police spokeswoman Captain Mali Govender said police had facilitated the release of a student who was being kept against his will on Sunday night.

She said police were alarmed at the recently cited figures of sexual assault on the Rhodes campus, saying police records did not correspond with those statistics.

Govender said Rhodes’ Gender Action Project chairwoman Sian Ferguson had revealed that about 22 students had confided in her this year alone that they had been raped.

Ferguson was quoted as saying that very few women reported rape as they feared “secondary traumatisation” and were aware of the low conviction rape.

Govender made an urgent appeal to rape victims to report their cases to the police, saying that victims were treated by specially trained officials.

“No incidents of sexual abuse or assault have been reported to the SAPS,” she said.

“None of the individuals named on this list is wanted by police so we distance ourselves from this list.”

Deiner said the task team would be chaired by Professor Catriona Macleod.

“The university affirms the need for more effective education about sexual violence, including rape,” she said.

The SRC said it encouraged sexual assault victims to come forward and use the counselling centre as a safe environment. – Additional reporting by Adrienne Carlisle and David Macgregor