4.2. Summary of the remarks by Prof Driekie Hay-Swemmer: Executive Director: Office of the Vice Chancellor

SECTION 3

The One Smart Vision 2030 adopted by CPUT cannot be realised if female staff and students are living in fear, afraid to walk back from lecture theatres, libraries and gyms late at night; if the men in the institution remain trapped within a toxic, oppressive paradigm for masculinity; and if gender inequality reigns on the campus.

Gender-based violence is a second pandemic facing the country under COVID-19. It is no social-media concoction but a deadly wave of violence which is claiming lives. It seems as if the brutality escalates each year around the 16 Days of Activism for the No Violence against Women and Children Campaign which starts in November, just as awareness is being raised about the impact of GBV and men are recommitting to treating their female peers as equals.

Against this background, it is crucial that women’s rights, including their right to be free from violence as a human right, are upheld at CPUT without fear or favour. Gender equality must be the norm. Men and women must be able to access opportunities on an equal basis and enjoy equal recognition and rewards for work of equal value. There must be equality in the classroom, boardroom and professoriate. All violence against women and children must be opposed. In the spirit of oneness (ubunye), if staff or students at CPUT remain silent about violence against women, or against anyone on the grounds of sexuality or gender, they are guilty of complicity. This is a vital aspect of the university’s drive to promote members of the institution who are united by shared humanity (ubuntu).

4.2. Summary of the remarks by Prof Driekie Hay-Swemmer: Executive Director: Office of the Vice Chancellor

Meaningful partnerships are necessary for effective efforts to break the vicious cycle of GBV and to change negative habits and ways of thinking. The required attitudinal seachange in society cannot be achieved by working in isolation. In this regard, the partnership between CPUT’s Transformation, Diversity and Social Cohesion Unit and UN Women’s South Africa Multi-Country Office has helped the university to develop important projects on gender equality and women’s empowerment, including the transformation of the university and among local communities. Building on this collaboration, the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Chris Nhlapo, was among the first senior figures in South Africa to pledge support for the HeForShe programme which was launched globally by UN Women to engage men in promoting women’s empowerment and an end to GBV. In a further sign of the institution’s commitment, a high-level committee on GBV, chaired by the vice-chancellor, was recently established; and all executive members of the university have undergone training on the issue under the auspices of the Sexual Offences unit of the Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

After Prof Nhlapo signed the HeForShe pledge in 2018, the programme was adopted by several departments, including the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences under Professor Paul Green, who is also the Chair of CPUT’s Institutional Transformation Forum (ITF). The plan now is to roll out the programme across all faculties, units, departments and divisions so that men across the institution are involved. This is crucial to the programme’s success, which depends on men serving as role models for their peers, so that the message can cascade across society. In this regard, it is noteworthy that Tumiso Mfisa, who as the then chairperson of the SRC involved in the programme in 2019, has continued to act as a champion of HeForShe in his role as a postgraduate student in the Business and Management Sciences Faculty and has now joined the Vice-Chancellor’s Office to take the process forward.

In terms of the institution’s community engagement, a crucial function of the university, the Transformation, Diversity and Social Cohesion Unit is finalising a project to promote the voices of women in the Western Cape, collecting and writing up their stories. CPUT believes that, in the words of Afro-American author Maya Angelou, “Each time a woman stands up for herself … she stands up for all women.” In this spirit, it is collaborating with HERS-SA; the Centre for Family Studies; and the GBV programme at the Centre for Communication Impact (CCI), to be smarter in efforts to adopt a student-centred approach to gender-related transformation. The aim is to move beyond merely holding events promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment to mainstreaming gender transformation across all the university’s faculties, departments, units and divisions.

CPUT has made some important strides, but the success of the mission to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment depends on constant awareness-raising; multi-stakeholder engagement; and the continuous provision of both material and moral support.