Gender Commission Probes Lupane State University Harassment Scandal
The Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) has commenced investigations in a case where the Lupane State University (LSU) vice-chancellor (VC) Pardon Kuipa is being accused of sexually abusing female members of staff.
One of the alleged victims yesterday told Southern Eye that she met ZGC officials together with her lawyers.
Matabeleland North Regional Coordinator of the ZGC, Dalubuhle Sibanda confirmed that the commission had done preliminary investigations. Sibanda said:
We had a report of an LSU sexual harassment case from one of the staff members, and so we did preliminary investigations to get the details of the matter.
We wrote to the registrar asking about the issue, and he confirmed that there was such a complaint.
Now the procedure is that we need to go to the institution and do follow-ups on the high-profile case.
Our (ZGC) chief executive officer Virginia Muwanigwa is in a better position to shed light on the issue.
Muwanigwa referred Southern Eye to ZGC’s legal and investigations manager Tinashe Mazani.
Southern Eye reported that by the time of going to print last night, Mazani had not responded to questions sent to him.
Last week, some women stormed the university campus in protest over alleged abuses by Kuipa.
