Rhodes bans student 'rapist'

A Rhodes University student accused of raping a first-year student will not be allowed to study or set foot on campus for a decade.

But while the third-year BA student was pronounced guilty of the rape by a university panel, which included legal experts, the local deputy director of public prosecutions, Malherbe Marais, declined to prosecute.

Although the unidentified student has left the university in Grahamstown, it might not be the end of the matter as there are rumours he may challenge his expulsion in court.

Marais said yesterday that he "declined to prosecute on the available evidence. We perused the docket, consulted and studied the record of evidence at the disciplinary inquiry, including the findings of that tribunal."

He said that the disciplinary proceedings were "conducted with far greater latitude in terms of rules and formalities than a criminal trial".

Even if the student challenged his expulsion in court, the outcome would not affect his decision.

Grahamstown police spokesman Captain Mali Govender said the alleged rape occurred off campus at a student digs party in February. The victim reported it to police soon after, decided later not to open a case and changed her mind the next week.

During its disciplinary hearing, the university slapped undisclosed fines on two of the alleged rapist's friends who gave "untruthful evidence" on his behalf.

Susan Smailes, director of special projects in the vice-chancellor's office, said both students "showed remorse, pleaded guilty as charged, apologised both to the rape survivor and the university".

She said the university asked for a prosecution, but this was declined. During the Rhodes hearing, "we were unaware of the state's intention on whether or not to prosecute", she said.

"In any event, the state's decision in this regard would not have dissuaded Rhodes from proceeding with its own internal hearing as Rhodes has an inherent right to proceed with hearings of this nature, which right is unaffected by the state's decision."

She said Rhodes was "satisfied" its "decisions were correct".

In a hard-hitting e-mail to staff and students, a "deeply saddened" vice-chancellor, Dr Saleem Badat, warned: "Despicable, violent and inhumane conduct against women has absolutely no place at Rhodes University. One of the repugnant aspects of the hearing was that the perpetrator called two of his friends to give evidence on his behalf, and in doing so they gave untruthful evidence."

Besides being excluded from studying or setting foot on campus for the next 10 years, the student also had his "academic transcript endorsed".

Any attempt to obtain credits from any other university to continue his studies would not be recognised by Rhodes.

Student representative council president Allan Magubane said it was a "shock to the institution as a whole that such a horrendous act of violence and discrimination should occur on our campus".