Public universities have not sufficiently transformed in the past 20 years and discrimination remains prevalent‚ particularly on the ground of race‚ gender‚ disability‚ and socio-economic class.

This is according to a report published by the South African Human Right Commission on transformation at these universities.

The commission held public hearings to investigate the matter following incidents of systemic exclusion and discrimination.

One such incident occurred at the University of the Free State when four black members of the support staff were subjected to inhumane treatment at the hands of white students — commonly referred to as the “Reitz Four” incident.

The commission also sought to find if there were any the factors that had hindered transformation.

The commission’s report‚ released on Friday‚ found that despite the relative gains‚ transformation in the higher education sector had been relatively slow.

The report includes a number of recommendations aimed at accelerating substantive transformation at universities‚ such as increased collaboration between sectors‚ students and interest groups.

It strongly recommended that the Department of Higher Education take a leading role in developing policies to support the transformation of the higher education system and for it to use its powers to hold universities who fail to transform to account.