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Gender activist decries rapes at universities

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A gender rights activist says South African universities have historically failed rape victims and that the new intake of female students face a minefield of sexual violence on our campuses.

The 2017 academic year closed off with the expulsion of two anti-rape activists by Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

Sarita Ranchod is the executive director of Under the Rainbow – a social justice organisation with a particular focus on sexual and gender based violence.

She says anti-rape protests were a common occurrence during her time at Rhodes in the 1990’s.

“25 years later women are still protesting about the same issues at the same university. see what kind of society we’re creating when we allow rapists to walk free and women protesting rape to get expelled for life. So for young women entering university it is rather unfortunate that the likelihood of sexual harassment or rape is there and the only thing that i can think about is that women need to hold universities accountable and make a noise about it,” she  said.

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