A ministerial task team has been appointed to advise minister of higher education & training Naledi Pandor on matters relating to sexual harassment and gender-based violence in public universities.

The task team has been appointed for a period of 12 months starting next month.

Department spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said the appointment of the task team was the department’s response to an open letter written by a group of academics to the minister in March.

“Following the letter the minister met with the group of academics to discuss the proposals they made. It was then agreed that addressing sexual harassment and gender-based harm decisively will allow for a focus on fundamental academic questions and restore academic culture and citizenship of all,” Ngqengelele said.

The task team will advise the minister of the effective introduction and implementation of the policy framework to address gender-based violence with a specific focus on universities, a possible inquiry into sexual harassment and gender-based harm in the university sector.

The team will also be requested to identify areas of good practice in reporting and managing gender-based harm and support mechanisms that could be replicated in the sector and to identify policy weaknesses across institutions that may be contributing to failures of institutions to adequately deal with sexual harassment  and gender-based violence.