Unisa’s national SRC president suspended

The president of the national student representative council (NSRC) at the University of South Africa (Unisa) was placed on precautionary suspension following allegations of sexual harassment, the university said on Thursday.

“The university has resolved to place the President of NSRC on precautionary suspension until the finalisation of the matter,” Unisa said in a statement.

This as it confirmed that it was aware that a sexual harassment complaint was lodged against the NSRC president, adding that it acknowledged the desire from internal and external stakeholders to have the complaint attended to speedily.

“We also assure stakeholders that this matter received swift attention by relevant officials in the university immediately after it was reported.

“The university has also ensured that its interventions comply with relevant legislation and policy, are sensitive to the national and international efforts against gender-based violence and aligned to the position of higher health on sexual harassment and gender discrimination,” the statement read.

Unisa further said the complainant had since been offered counselling by the university and continued to receive emotional support from qualified professionals.

“In the intervening period, both the complainant and alleged perpetrator agreed to have an informal mediation process to try and resolve the challenge; as prescribed by policy,” the statement said.

However, the complainant was said to have recently informed the university that she was withdrawing her participation from the mediation process, requesting that the formal disciplinary process be reinstituted.

“The university has acceded to this request and is proceeding with the formal disciplinary process and the disciplinary hearing has been set down for Monday, November 15.

“The university will ensure that this case is finalised as speedily as possible,” the statement read.

The university further said that while it did not “as a rule” discuss the merits of such cases publicly, it always ensured the appropriate action was taken against anyone who was found guilty of serious misconduct, such as sexual harassment.