Deputy Higher Education Minister Nomusa Dube-Ncube has asked TVET college students to build tools against gender-based violence (GBV).
She spoke on Friday at Thekwini TVET College’s Asherville Campus in Durban. The event was part of a six-day campaign by the TVET students association, SATVETSA.
“We have reached a point in South Africa where speeches against gender-based violence are no longer enough. We need better questions, and we need young minds willing to find better answers,” the Deputy Minister said.
Dube-Ncube said students could build safety apps with panic buttons linked to campus security and Higher Health. She also suggested anonymous reporting platforms and digital literacy campaigns on online abuse.
She raised concern about abuse through technology. She listed online threats, stalking, controlling a partner’s location, sharing private images and sextortion.
She encouraged engineering students to design and install solar-powered lighting along routes that students often use. She said other students could map unsafe areas around campuses, residences and taxi ranks.
The Deputy Minister said career guidance and skills training also help to prevent GBV. She said economic independence gives women more choices and the ability to leave abusive relationships.
“A young woman with a qualification, a skill and an income of her own is a young woman with choices,” she said.
Dube-Ncube said colleges must respond quickly to GBV reports from campuses, residences and private student housing. She said a 2020 department framework requires institutions to have anti-GBV policies, designated offices and survivor support services.
“A policy that sits in a drawer protects no one,” she said. “A student who reports abuse must be treated with dignity, not turned away or made to feel ashamed.”
She also condemned sexual exploitation involving lecturers and students, and said it is a crime. She urged college management to protect students who come forward. She said alleged offenders must not simply be moved to other campuses.
Dube-Ncube asked each campus in the campaign to find at least one technological and one social solution. She said SATVETSA is expected to gather the proposals for a special workshop she will convene.
She said the strongest proposals would go to partners for possible support. These include Sector Education and Training Authorities, the National Skills Fund and Higher Health.
The campaign will extend to KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and other provinces. The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children begins later in November.
Source: this article is based on reporting by SAnews.gov.za. Image: GCIS via SAnews.gov.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.