As part of its mandate to promote the values of diversity, inclusivity and equity at UP, the Transformation Office encourages members of the University community to report any matters relating to discrimination.

This Freedom Month, the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Transformation Office would like to issue a reminder that the online Anti-Discrimination reporting tool is available to both its student and staff community.

“The Transformation Office is the official custodian of the University community in matters relating to anti-discrimination, and sexual and gender-based violence, and facilitates the integration of the Anti-Discrimination Policy into the curriculum for students and into the workplace for staff members,” said Director of the Transformation Office Nontsikelelo Loteni. “It promotes the values of diversity, inclusivity and equity for UP students and staff members.”

UP staff members are reminded of their basic rights as stated in the Bill of Rights contained within the Constitution of South Africa. These rights come with responsibilities as all citizens have similar rights.

“No citizen has more rights than the other,” Loteni said. “We are all equal before the law and it is important that we treat everyone with respect and dignity. We would like to remind colleagues that the Transformation Office is there for them should they experience any form of discrimination.”

Incidents that can be reported to the Transformation Office include hate speech, intimidation, violence, and all forms of discrimination and harassment.

Help is at hand

Staff and students can report incidents by doing the following:

• Selecting the “Anti-Discrimination” tile and following the prompts on the UP Portal
• Calling 0800 006 428
• Sending an email to [email protected]
• Texting “Hello” to the WhatsApp number 012 420 8404 (between 8am and 4pm on weekdays)
• Visiting the team at one of the marked houses next to the Prospect pedestrian gate.

“We encourage the UP community to make use of our services to ensure that we all work towards the co-creation of an inclusive learning and working environment – THE UP WAY,” Loteni said.