A group of 70 men and women bayed for a senior official at Buffalo City College to be fired on Thursday, less than 24 hours after President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his horror over rising gender-based violence cases in the country.
The group, who danced and sang outside the college in Southernwood, East London, came out in support of staff member Amanda Dayizana, who allegedly was sexually abused by the official.
Singing sicela uxolo nothando (we ask for peace and love) and chanting masihambe isidlwengu (the rapist must go), the protesters called for other victims of abuse to speak out.
Dayizana, who was among the crowd, left the college in May 2019 before returning briefly in March.
She gave DispatchLIVE permission to use her name.
Dayizana said the alleged abuse and harassment had occurred for six years, but she had been to afraid to open a case with the police.
She has previously written to the department of higher education and training, the presidency and her representatives appealed to former higher education minister Naledi Pandor to intervene. DispatchLIVE has seen copies of these letters.
Dayizana said: “He threatened to make my life miserable if I spoke out. He harassed me even when I changed departments in 2017. He had me suspended and later fired.
“I applied for arbitration and won my case this year. I returned to work on March 1 and still he and the principal harassed me, saying I should leave.”
She asked that they give her a letter demanding that she leave the college.
She went back every day for the first week of March. At the end of that week she received the letter stating she should leave the campus as her situation was still under review, she said.
Since then, Dayizana has struggled to put food on the table.
But now she had decided to make her alleged abuse public.
She said she had not opened a case with police as she believed protest action would be more effective.
“I decided to take this route because I could no longer sit back. They [the alleged abuser and principal] are blocking me from returning to work. It hurts.”
She alleged that there were other women at the college who had been abused by the official.
“I took the matter to the department (higher education and training) and I am waiting to hear from them.”
The protesters submitted a petition to acting college principal Xolile Madliki, who accepted it on behalf of principal Dharachand Singh and the department of higher education and training.
Among the demands, which were read out by ANC MP Princess Faku, are the immediate suspension of the “alleged predator pending an investigation”; an independent investigation on the activities of the alleged “sexual predator”; and the establishment of a confidential process where all employees and interns could speak of their experiences at the college without fear of victimisation.
They also called for Dayizana to be reinstated at the college.
Madliki said: “I want to humbly say the matter we are dealing with is a matter which we will take it to the department [of higher education]. The college does not take it lightly. The department will be able to handle this matter on its merit.”
Faku said Dayizana represented many women in the country. She said the protesters would camp at the college to ensure the accused man would not be allowed to enter the premises.
BCC student and Sasco secretary Sindy Mbuto said what had happened to Dayizana could befall any student.
“We hope that measures will be put in place now to ensure we are protected in this campus. Perpetrators should be named and shamed,” she said.
Unions also joined the march.
SACP district secretary Siyabonga Mdodi said they had been inundated with calls from women complaining of harassment by staff at colleges across the province.
“Men should lead these actions. Women die in the hands of men. Now we need to ensure the department takes proper action against this employee. If it doesn’t, that will mean they support him,” he said.
The accused man’s phone went to voicemail every time DispatchLIVE called. Singh dropped the DispatchLIVE’s calls.
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