Pretoria - Following the rape and killing of University of Cape Town (UCT) student Uyinene Mrwetyana, a fellow student wrongfully identified as “assaulter and rapist” claimed damages from another student who added his name to the list.
The student’s name appeared on a list handed out on campus and published on social media. Mrwetyana’s death sparked outrage in 2019, and while a memorial service was held for her on campus, students distributed a list of whom they regarded as women abusers and rapists on campus.
While UCT at the time distanced itself from this and pleaded with students not to distribute the list, it found its way on to social media. The university said it had a service to assist students who fall prey to abuse and called on students to follow this process, rather than to publish names.
The plaintiff (whose name Pretoria News decided not to publish) said his life was ruined as he was seen as a women abuser and rapist, while he was innocent. He turned to the Western Cape High Court, where he claimed damages against a fellow student, Siphelele Nxumalo.
While Nxumalo did not turn up at court to defend the claim, the plaintiff said she told him at the time that while she did not believe he was a woman abuser, a friend had asked her to add his name to the list, which she had published on her social media accounts.
Judge Elizabeth Baartman said given the nature of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country and the fact that the court did not want to discourage victims from reporting these cases, she went out of her way to try to afford Nxumalo the opportunity to place her side of the story before the court.
“Importantly, these proceedings could deter survivors or victims of GBV from reporting incidents of violence and so perpetuate these soul destroying crimes. Therefore, it was important to afford the defendant every opportunity to defend the claim against her,” the judge said.
With numerous fruitless attempts to engage ith Nxumalo, the court’s patience ran out and judgment by default was this week obtained against her. The court ordered that she had to pay the plaintiff about R300 000, which included general damages as well as his past and future medical expenses.
She must apologise to him within 30 days and remove the offending posts from her social media accounts.
Expert witnesses told the court that the plaintiff suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder following his ordeal in being wrongly earmarked as a woman abuser. The plaintiff himself told the court the false accusation had shattered him.
On September 4, 2019, the university held a highly publicised memorial service for the slain student and hundreds attended. At that service, a list of alleged “rapists at UCT” was read out that included the plaintiff. In addition, the list was disseminated to attendees at the memorial service and made its way onto social media platforms. The list has since been circulated on the anniversary of the event.
At the time, the plaintiff was a 20-year-old final-year Bachelor of Social Science student. Although he was not present when the names of alleged perpetrators of GBV were called out, he saw a video of the event.
He said while he had no idea how his name landed there, his life of hell started. He was shunned, kicked off WhatsApp groups and people refused to associate with him any longer.
The plaintiff said he became a hermit and no longer attended lectures.
Pretoria News