Palesa Moloinyane
A lecturer at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) is facing serious allegations of sexual harassment, with claims surfacing that the institution has failed to offer adequate support or protection to affected students.
The university has strongly denied tolerating such misconduct.
In a memo issued on Monday, LUCT stated: “Management notes with grave concern assertions circulating on social media (Facebook), which seem to indicate that some students are or have been subjected to prejudice or misconduct by certain unscrupulous staff members.”
The memo reiterated that the university has “repeatedly communicated” to the Students Union and through various channels that such acts “absolutely do not have any place at LUCT.” It described such behaviour as “abhorrent to LUCT ethos.”
LUCT encouraged anyone who has experienced misconduct to report it using the university’s formal channels or via its toll-free number, 80022077, assuring that all complaints, including anonymous ones, would receive the “highest level of attention and confidentiality.”
One student, Fumane Tsimile, who spoke to Newsday this week, described a harrowing experience involving repeated harassment by a lecturer after she approached him with an academic request.
Tsimile,an upgrading student who enrolled in the Professional Communication program during the 2023/24 academic year, explained that she had registered late and missed the first test of the semester. Hoping to catch up, she approached the lecturer to request the opportunity to write the test.
“He told me it was not his fault I arrived late,” she said. “I kept asking him, pleading for a chance. But he kept asking me what I would give him in return,” she continued.
Initially, she thought he was joking. But as the conversation continued, it became clear he was serious and asked her to visit him at his place.
“I ended up promising to give him money, or even offer him transport, like giving him a lift or paying for his bus fare for the week. I just wanted to write the test, that is all I wanted,” she said.
Despite her promises, the lecturer allegedly escalated his demands, asking the student to go to his house and wash his blankets.
“I told him I did not know how to wash them, but I could pay someone else to do it,” she recalled. “He refused and said he only wanted me to do it. I still refused, but eventually, he gave me the test.”
After she completed the test, the lecturer reportedly began calling her, accusing her of not taking her school work seriously and threatening that she would fail for not fulfilling his demands of going to his place.
“I was scared, at first, I didn’t even know what to do. I eventually told two of my closest lecturers, and I want to believe one of them may have talked to him, because he stopped harassing me for some time,” she emphasised.
However, the harassment allegedly resumed in her last semester at school.
“In my final semester, he would order me to buy him lunch using my own money,” she said. “I did it because I didn’t want to face more threats about failing. For three semesters, I kept failing his modules and had to write supplementary exams.” She explained.
She indicated that this time she was afraid that she was going to fail and not graduate like other students she arrived there with; therefore, she decided to buy him what he wanted and do whatever he wanted her to do.
According to her, other students believed that complaints about such incidents have often been ignored or dismissed.
“People said even if I went to the Faculty Manager(FMG), nothing would happen because somehow the lecturer and the FMG are very close and that is what made me stay quiet and not report it to the FMG or even to the Student Service Department (SSD),” she emphasised.
The student also revealed that she is not the only one who has experienced this behaviour. “He’s still teaching. I’ve heard from other girls that he’s doing the same thing to them now. It just keeps going because no one’s stopping him.” Said the student.
Tsimile shared her ordeal on Facebook, detailing the lecturer’s threats, which prompted public attention and the university’s memo.
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