Higher Education Minister welcomes arrest in university stabbing incident

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, has welcomed the arrest of a university student for allegedly stabbing his wife at a private student residence in Belhar, Cape Town, on Saturday.

The video went viral. The 26-year-old woman was a student at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), while her alleged attacker (30), is a University of Western Cape (UWC) student.

According to UWC, the suspect and the CPUT student are married.

‘’ A 30-year-old male suspect was arrested and is currently being held under police guard in a hospital. Belhar police registered an attempted murder case following a stabbing incident on Saturday afternoon at a student accommodation in Belhar, where a 26-year old female student was injured,’’ said Captain F.C van Wyk.

‘’Circumstances surrounding this stabbing incident are under investigation. The injured victim was transported to a nearby medical facility for treatment. Investigations continue,’’ he added.

Nzimande welcomed the swift response of law enforcement agencies in arresting the perpetrator, who according to the video footage in circulation, was merciless and barbaric in committing the crime against his partner. 

Nzimande noted that gender-based violence (GBV) is a global pandemic that affected one in three women in their lifetime.

 “As many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner, 35% of women worldwide experienced physical and sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence,” Nzimande said.

 As part of dealing with gender-based violence in institutions, the Minister launched the Transforming MENtalities initiative, which is a multistakeholder partnership within Post School Education and Training (PSET) with a particular focus on mobilising men to be part of championing a world free of gender biases, stereotypes, violence and discrimination.

Nzimande urged all institutions working with Higher Health, which oversees wellness at higher education institutions, to continue working collectively in implementing programmes towards addressing the challenges of sexual and gender-based violence within the PSET system.

Done By: Esona Mfazwe