Degree-for-silence in rape claim haunts UCT

The alleged offer was formally made in a meeting involving legal representatives, making the institution's involvement explicit

- By Setumo Stone

Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela has launched a fresh probe into allegations that University of Cape Town (UCT) offered a student a degree to buy her silence after being raped by a professor.

The complainant, who is known to Sunday World but cannot be named for legal reasons, was later gagged with a court order obtained at the Western High Court by UCT after several investigations into the allegations ‘found no evidence’ to her claims.

Manamela told Sunday World this week that his office would seek a formal report from the institution on how the matter was concluded and whether compliance with sexual and gender-based violence policy has since improved.

An anonymous source who is privy to the case, alleged that the complainant was raped about 2020 by one of the university's academics. At the time of the alleged rape incident, the complainant was a postgraduate student and an employee of the Western Cape Health Department. Afterwards, she allegedly opened a case against the culprit but was later coerced into dropping it in exchange for a free degree.