Majuba TVET College: 23 GBVF reports recorded across five campuses, all followed up

A college with almost no GBVF reports does not have almost no GBVF. It has students who have worked out that reporting costs more than staying silent. Across Majuba's five campuses, two sat at four or five reported cases a year. Stigma, fear of being identified, and no visible route from a disclosure to actual support kept the numbers artificially low and the problem invisible.

The 100-Day goal

Make reporting safe enough that people use it, and build the support pathway waiting on the other side.

The results

Twenty-three GBVF reports were formally recorded, and every one received intervention and follow-up. That second half is what makes the first half repeatable.

Dialogues and events, including Isibaya samadoda and Ikhosomba labesifazane, reached over 4,000 students and staff.

Capacity building trained 127 peer educators and 52 staff members in prevention, survivor support and referral systems.

Who did the work

A cross-departmental team spanning HR, Student Support Services and the SRC, with leadership backing that the team names as a condition of their performance rather than a courtesy.

How they did it

The QR code was the small thing that changed the numbers. Anonymous reporting through a code removed the moment a student most dreads: standing in an office asking to speak to someone. GBVF awareness also went into the Student Orientation Programme, so every incoming student now learns the reporting route before they need it.

Alongside that, the college built the receiving end. Formal partnerships with the SAPS Family Violence Unit, the Thuthuzela Care Centre and the Department of Social Development are what allowed all 23 reports to be referred and followed through rather than logged.

Men’s Roundtable discussions, formalised as the Majuba Men’s Pledge Campaign, put accountability and positive masculinity into a space men had voluntarily entered. A GBVF March and memorandum handover to SAPS, Black Mondays and campus prayer sessions made the work visible on campus every week rather than once.

Stigma, thin psychosocial resources, departmental budget limits and internal resistance were all live throughout.

What continues

Campus targets now run past the sprint: ITB and NTC aim to move from four or five reported cases a year to at least twelve to fifteen. The Campus Wellbeing Ambassadors programme, quarterly awareness and reflection sessions, and prevention education extending into student accommodation and surrounding communities all continue.

Kareshma Sewsancaran’s reflection: the challenge reminded the college that silence is complicity, and voices once quiet have become catalysts for change.

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Thought starter reflection questions

Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:
  • When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift? 
  • When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
  • What was most surprising to you at the event?
  • What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
  • Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
  • How would you characterise the level of trust among participants in the meeting? To what extent did this shift as the meeting progressed? To what do you attribute this shift, if indeed it happened?

Thought starter...

Reflection Questions 

Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:

  • When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift? 
  • When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
  • What was most surprising to you at the event?
  • What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
  • Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
These are 100-Day Challenge Mentors. 

They did some work before you received the Challenge Note. This included:

  • Writing the Challenge Note, and making sure that the leaders of all the organisations represented on the team are comfortable with it – and committed to supporting the work of the team
  • Helping the leaders of these organisation recruit you and your colleagues to the team
  • Gathering some baseline data and other information that will help you and your teammates set your 100-Day goal and develop your plan.
  • Making sure all the preparations are made for a successful Lift-Off workshop, when you and your teammates will meet and get your 100-Day Challenge started. This includes venue, facilitation support, food, swags, comms, travel arrangements and whatever else is needed.

 

Mentors will participate in all or part of the Lift-Off Workshop, mostly at the start to provide context and answer questions, and at the end to give you and your teammates feedback about the goal and plan you develop.

During the 100 days following the Lift-Off Workshop, here’s what the Mentors will do:  

  • They will check in every two weeks with the team leaders to see how the team is doing and what support they and the team need.
  • They will keep other organisational leaders informed and engaged during the 100 days, and pull them in to help as needed.
  • They will participate in the last part of the Refuelling Workshop, halfway through the 100 days, to see what additional support the team needs, and to begin to plan with the team for sustainability and scale-up.
  • They will work with the team at the Sustainability Workshop to finalise recommendations on sustaining the results and building on the work of the team.