Large numbers of staff members from all TUT’s campuses participated in the peaceful, male led marches from their respective campuses to their closest Police station to hand over a memorandum to the station commanders. In addition to campaigners singing and chanting on the march while holding their protest placards high, the Polokwane Campus even had their choir accompanying them on their march to add punch to their message.
Prof Stanley Mukhola, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching, Learning and Technology, handed a memorandum from the Pretoria Campus to the Station Commander at the Pretoria West Police Station. Speaking on behalf of Prof Lourens van Staden, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, he said, “Enough is enough, this scourge against defenceless women and children must be stopped.”
Reading the memorandum aloud, he continued, “We call for an end to gender-based violence and urge the authorities to do everything in their power to deal decisively with this problem. We also commit to prioritise this issue and to use our intellectual capacity to help find solutions to eradicate the scourge that is affecting our country.
“Our march today sends a strong signal that we will not stand by silently. We will stand up against gender-based violence. We will develop and support initiatives to fight against gender-based violence. We will work to change the way in which women are treated – from one of brutality and fear to one of protection and respect.“
In a post march interview, the march convener, Isaac Tlhabadira, shared his gratitude with everyone who supported the GENDER BASED VIOLENCE march. “Thank you to everybody who participated in the project, from the VC for his support to the logistical team and every person who marched, I really appreciate your hard work and efforts. As a first step in creating awareness and taking a stand against a serious social scourge, today’s march was a great success for TUT,” he said.
He added that this is by no means the end of the University’s activism against gender-based violence. “There are other short, medium and long term objectives regarding #NOTOGENDERBASEDVIOLENCE that we have identified and should achieve at the University. I look forward to even greater participation from the University community in future projects related to this campaign,” he concluded.
Please click here, to view more of the pictures taken during the Gender-based Violence Men-Led march in Ga-Rankuwa.