Rhodes University under fire after expelling student activists over protest action
A huge outcry over “harsh” punishment.
A protest against rape culture at Rhodes University has seen two student activists’ future in serious uncertainty after being expelled and banned for life from the institution.
The students have been left seeking legal advice following this decision which, if not successfully challenged, means they may not be able to complete their studies.
The university has once come under the spotlight following widespread outrage over the expulsion of two female students for their role in anti-rape protests which took part in April 2016. This was after a list, termed the #RUReferenceList, containing names of 11 alleged sexual predators, in the Grahamstown campus was circulated across social media, sparking action from the students who went to seek out perpetrators from their various residencies.
Things came to a head when four of these men were rounded up and escorted out of their dorms and were allegedly beaten with empty water bottles and spat on.
According to the university, the students exhibited “conduct beyond lawful boundaries and amounted to common law offences”.
On 17 November 2017, they were found guilty of kidnapping, assault, defamation and insubordination.
Noxolo Mfocwa, one of the activists banned from the university told Power FM on Tuesday that the punishment was a harsh silencing method.
“The university has been very good at spinning the story and criminalising black women who stood up and spoke out against a university that has been oppressing and silencing for the longest of times,” said Mfocwa.
“All these charges have been trumped up to make it look like we are a violent group of women who decided to just spontaneously attack a group of people.No one was assaulted, and there was no kidnapping.”
It is the severity of the punishment handed to the activists which sparked great outrage as many believe that, perpetrators in the university who had been found guilty of the very crime the protest action was against had been handed far lighter sentences.
Also read: #CrimeStats: Rape stats are not telling the whole story
