This actress wore a black and gold gown

ManDown and its mission

Stephanie Cookson

The University of Pretoria has seen its share of student related activities centred on issues like rape culture and gender-based violence (GBV). These activities have ranged from marches to silent protests, and formal events over the years, as well as the creation of structures and programs like #SpeakOutUP or JustLeaders (facilitated by the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender). However, for the first time, a new edition to the university’s leadership community has risen to the task of tackling rape culture and toxic masculinity from the perspective of young men.

ManDown was inspired by “the need to address issues of men’s mental health, sexuality, rape culture and toxic masculinity from a male perspective,” explained Masilu Moshabela, one of the eight members of the general committee that run ManDown. As a project of the Department of Student Affairs, ManDown is facilitated by Phina Sokho from Student Health Services. The name is inspired by the phrase “man up,” which implies that men should ‘toughen up’ or do what is considered ‘manly’ when facing adversity. When used as a response to striking examples like homosexuality or mental illness, the results can be particularly damaging. “ManDown challenges this phrase by telling the young men that you do not have to conform to society’s unfair expectations. You are free to be who you are,” says Lenka Malatji, another member of the general committee.

Malatji said that ManDown, launched in March 2019, seeks to incorporate “education around rape culture and toxic masculinity within student structures through a curriculum that will be shared among UP’s various student leadership structures”. In the long-term, however, Moshabela explained that ManDown hopes to “be part of a broader progressive and conscious student movement that seeks to address [these] challenges within the student community in all UP campuses”.

On 16 May 2019, ManDown hosted its inaugural event “MaleVictim MalePerpetrator.” The event focused on bringing UP students together to confront the issues of sexual harassment and gender-based violence. While the response was productive, Moshabela explained that the audience included fewer men than women.

Events focusing on gender-based violence often bring women together in solidarity, “but [we] seldom hear about events that bring men

into the fold as stakeholders in dealing with the scourge of violence against women and our society at large,” says Malatji, adding that men most often being the perpetrators of rape or domestic violence “begs the question, what are we doing as men?”.

Part of the inspiration behind ManDown is to encourage the accountability of men regarding the perpetration of gender-based-violence and toxic masculinity. ManDown Image: Promise Zulu

Professor Kupe’s state of the

university address

therefore serves as a vehicle through which to confront those issues and “develop much more responsible men for society,” says Moshabela. ManDown also partnered with the organization Heartlines for a series of workshops held within university residences and student structures in 2019 that focused on male oriented values. Heartlines is dedicated to helping people live out positive values and realise the impact that things like male oriented values have on South African communities, families and the collective nation. ManDown will see more events planned in 2020 in partnership with Heartlines, while the rest of their events will be announced on social media accounts like Instagram (mandown_up) and Twitter (MandownUP).

The relationship between masculinity and violence has been thoroughly examined in fields such as sociology and cultural anthropology, and the South African

organisation SaferSpaces explains that “it is important to gain a comprehensive understanding of the role that masculinity plays in creating violent societies,” because of what is called the ‘victim-overlap’. This refers to the fact that both perpetrators and victims of violence in South Africa are usually men. Domestic violence and sexual violence are some of the effects of negative expressions of masculinity. SaferSpaces explains that because many instances of gender-based-violence happen at the will of male perpetrators rather than female victims, the tendency to focus almost entirely on interventions involving women cannot be as effective as initiatives that involve men. “Focusing on interventions involving boys could significantly decrease many other forms of violence as well,” says the organization’s publication on toxic masculinities.

ManDown’s intentions to engage with other men on such issues is not just new in UP’s community, but also necessary. “Men must be confronted and men themselves must confront each other about these issues,” says Moshabela. “This basically is a space for men to be vulnerable and also confront these issues that have grappled our society,” he explained, adding that while people have different responses to the project, ultimately “no one can afford to remain oblivious to the crisis we find ourselves in”.

Maryke Steynvaart

On Monday, 11 February 2020, Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Tawana Kupe addressed the university in the annual and official academic opening and birthday celebration at UP. In his speech, he outlined his vision and mission for UP in the year and next decade to follow regarding academic performance, impactful research, solving student problems and UP’s continuous transformation. He also stressed the significance of UP’s 112th birthday and the reason everyone should be proud to be a part of this institution.

2020 is the start of the last 5-year cycle, which is a part of a 15- year plan to take UP to the next level by 2025. It is a long-term plan aimed to firstly create a single unified vision, mission and values for the whole university which will be implemented by 2025. Kupe told PDBY that “[his] vision is for UP to be the leading African university globally connected, networked and engaged known for quality, excellence and innovation in teaching, learning, research and social engagement in ways that make a decisive difference for people’s lives.” The UP mission, as mentioned in Kupe’s speech, is “pursuing recognition and excellence in its core functions of research, teaching and learning, and integrating engagement with society and communities into these, the University of Pretoria will use quality, relevance, diversity and sustainability as its navigational markers.”

The following decade at UP will be dynamic as many changes will take place and the university will expand in various areas. One way is through the establishment of many new institutes. The Future Africa Institute and Javett Art Centre have already opened their doors, but this year Innovation Africa and the Engineering 4.0 complex will be established as well.

The Engineering 4.0 complex “will be the seat of [UP’s] research into smart cities, smart transport and smart payment (…) the complex is built in partnership with SANDRA and CSIR and aims to provide solutions to the future of transport in what is called the fourth industrial revolution”. Kupe continued to speak about Innovation Africa “which is going to be an exciting transdisciplinary research hub which will help the future of food security in Africa through smart agriculture and bio-economy”.

Recently the University launched the ‘The UP Way’ campaign to encompass everything that the university stands for as an institution. Kupe asks that “staff and students embrace The UP Way in a wonderful way,” and further states that “The UP Way is underpinned by excellence and a transcendent drive to make education a lifelong learning experience and a way of life for ourselves and our students”. He also affirmed that the “students are a product of The UP Way.”

The UP Way is a certain lifestyle, way of thought, behaviour and attitude that is underpinned by UP’s values. Kupe stresses that students need to make changes, by for example, decreasing the use of plastics and argues that “conscious decisions like these, to do the right thing, and to think of the consequences and implications of what we do today and in the future, is in essence why it so important to make today matter.” He also told PDBY that this means “being positive, future looking, dedication to hard work, resilience, innovation and transformation and caring for others within UP and beyond UP.”

In September 2019 Kupe introduced UP’s anti-discrimination policy geared towards creating inclusive spaces. Here The UP Way is also emphasised and Kupe stresses that “in no circumstance do we condone or encourage behaviour that is hateful or discriminatory on the basis of disability, race, nationality, culture, religion, gender or political affiliation. It is also clear that all forms of gender-based violence are unacceptable in our community”. He also suggests that everyone should “respect each other and learn from our unique individualities and rich diversity around us.”

The university works to achieve diversity, cultivate inclusive institutional cultures that assist in sustaining and developing quality, excellence and innovation in teaching, learning, research and social engagement. In addition, UP will launch a transformation office which ,according to Kupe, will “support, enable, oversee and assist all our transformation structures and programmes across the university”. It is also important to understand that “all of us are responsible for transformation (…) and how we treat others and relate to others.” Kupe reiterated to PDBY that transformation is how UP can “make everyone feel they belong”. UP has a long way to go before it can become one of the highest regarded universities in the world and Kupe says that there are certain factors limiting the university and that “we will address those indicators without compromising our responsibilities to our country, our continent and unique contributions to the world.”

Kupe also reminds that “there is some instability in this sector and some of our sister institutions have not necessarily had a smooth start to the academic year. These instabilities are caused by a wide range of issues that require sensitive and empathetic handling by various stakeholders”. He further stressed that UP aims to assist students with similar issues of “affordability, access, and student debt”, amongst others.

Over the past few years, many institutions who are over 112 years old have fractured under the pressures of the problems they face. It is therefore significant that UP “is moving [from] strength to strength as a provider of high quality transformative knowledge” and remains at the forefront of academic institutions. Finally, Kupe told PDBY that he encourages students to “grab all the opportunities available to you, be positive, work hard and play hard but responsibly, be kind, empathetic to others and work with others because as always we are #strongertogether”. Advertise with PDBYMedia Contact Carel Willemse carel.willemse@up.ac.za