'Varsity officer taunted and traumatised us'

Two students who allegedly stole a cellphone were ordered to strip and parade naked in front of their colleagues by an employee at the Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape.

Now Sisanda Mfundisi, a residence officer at Zamukulungisa Heights - one of the two Mthatha campuses of the university - has been suspended from duty at the hostel pending an investigation.

The incident has left the top brass at the institution "shocked" and "embarrassed".

Before publicly humiliating Sikhumbuzo Butshinga and his roommate, Vuyisani Ngambhe, Mfundisi is also alleged to have asked the student whose cellphone went missing to assault the two with a snooker cue before assaulting them himself.

Butshinga and Ngambhe were so traumatised by the incident, which was filmed by fellow students on their cellphones, that they are now receiving trauma counselling.

They could not be reached for comment, but in a statement written in Xhosa to the campus director, Noluvuyo Nqebelele, they said they were questioned by Mfundisi at about 10pm on August 18 about his missing music system.

"We did not know anything about it. Then he said we must be assaulted, starting with the owner of the cellphone.

"After that, he slapped us. He had a pool stick. Then he instructed us to undress naked and took us outside and called other students to come outside and see us. The others took pictures of us with cellphones," they said in their statement.

The Sunday Times has established that the students admitted taking a cellphone they found lying in the TV common room.

They later showed it to three other roommates and kept it in their locker. Upon hearing that someone had been looking for it, they handed it over to the owner.

Nqebelele informed the vice-chancellor, Professor Marcus Balintulo, in writing that Mfundisi had come to her office to report that the two students had stolen a cellphone.

In her letter, she said: "He (Mfundisi) then decided to punish them by asking them to go outside and take off all their clothes in front of other students."

She said she informed the director of student affairs, Zoleka Dotwana, of the incident before arranging counselling for the students.

"The students were still crying, hence I felt I must refer them for counselling services. One of the students has reported this to his parents. I am arranging a visit to the affected families with a counsellor from the university," she allegedly told Balintulo.

Balintulo confirmed that Mfundisi had been suspended immediately after the incident had been brought to the university's attention and that disciplinary action against him was under way.

"We were very embarrassed about that. It's shocking. In fact, it's foreign to the culture that we are building here," he said.

Balintulo could not say what charges Mfundisi would be facing. He confirmed that the two students had undergone counselling sessions and that both had been very embarrassed by the incident.

Mfundisi declined to comment, saying: "It's an allegation, but I don't have a comment on that one. Sorry."