Student leaders at Rhodes University in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape have described the late law student Khensani Maseko as a gallant activist who frowned upon the abuse of women.
The students paid tribute to Maseko who reportedly committed suicide at the weekend after accusing her boyfriend of raping her in May this year.
In moving tributes at the Settlers Monument, the message from student leaders and friends was the same “Enough is enough”. Maseko only reported the matter last week.
The institution contacted her family and they came to the university.
They decided to take her home to Johannesburg for a while as she went through the processes. She was due to sit in consultations with a psychologist and therapists on Monday pending the investigation.
Students and staff at the university heard on Saturday that she had died.
Rhodes University’s Vice-Chancellor, Sizwe Mabizela, has stressed the importance of educating young men to respect women and their rights.
“Learn to respect and love women. What is painful is that the person who did this to her is not some stranger who came from nowhere. It was someone who she knew and that is something our society needs to be aware of, that the big bad wolf is someone that proclaims to love you, someone that you should trust, someone you can be vulnerable with and then takes advantage and abuses you. It is something that our society needs to come to grips with in raising young men to be responsible adults.”
Khensani is to be buried in her home town Johannesburg on Thursday. Click below for more on the story:
