Dear Editor
The Democratic Alliance Students’ Organisation (DASO) expresses great concern at recent cases of the appointment of individuals with pending sexual assault allegations to leadership roles within Student Representative Councils, including at WITS, UCT, and NMU.
This undermines both the integrity of student governance and the safety of survivors, sending a chilling message that accountability is being ignored.
DASO urges the Minister of Police and Justice to take bold and decisive steps to reform our criminal justice system, and as we watch the collapse of national policing in real time at the Madlanga Commission and Ad Hoc Committee, DASO demands that policing is devolved to competent provincial and municipal levels in order to address the inefficiencies and failures of the national SAPS in combating crime. Our students need law enforcement institutions and justice institutions that truly serve as spaces of safety and dignity for all, and which intervene when the crime of GBV is reported – not sometimes, but EVERY time.
South Africa needs faster prosecution of GBVF cases and providing stronger support systems for survivors, so that justice is delivered, not delayed and never denied.
In a collective show of solidarity and remembrance, DASO expresses our support for the growing movement across the country, recognizing and highlighting the scourge of gender-based violence across South Africa.
DASO urges all students and South Africans to take a visible stand against GBVF. We call on students to wear black and purple as colours of solidarity – to honour survivors, to mourn the lives lost to this injustice, and to reaffirm our collective, unyielding demand for justice.
Regards
Andrea Martinez
DASO federal chairperson