A female technical and vocational college student was last week raped at a private unaccredited residence in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria.
The student from Tshwane North TVET College in the Soshanguve campus, in Gauteng, was staying at a private accommodation that was not safe nor conducive to learning, South Africa Public Colleges Organisation chair and principal of Motheo TVET College, Prof Dipiloane Phutsisi, told the portfolio committee on higher education, science and innovation this week.
The department of higher education, science and innovation revealed that in 2021 a total of 88 cases of rape were reported at TVET colleges. The Eastern Cape with 50 cases and Gauteng and Free State region with 31 recorded the highest number of rape cases. Seven cases were reported in the Northern and Western Cape region.
The issue of accommodation is under the spotlight as university students at nine universities and 14 TVET colleges embarked on protests over, among other issues, the costs of student accommodation and the caps that have been set by NSFAS, which in some instances are below the rates charged by private student residences.
The high costs of student accommodation is impacting on students’ safety as some settle for unsafe and deplorable private residences which are not accredited by institutions of higher learning.
In a written reply to DA member of parliament and member of the portfolio committee on higher education, science and innovation Chantel King on the number of TVET colleges that have their own student accommodation, the minister of higher education and training replied late last year that 38 out of the 50 public TVET colleges had student accommodation.
The TVET colleges, which are spread across all nine provinces, have 364 campuses in urban and rural areas.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
