Wongalethu Maquthu

The lockdown did not stop the Durban University of Technology (DUT) from hosting its second annual men’s conference.

The conference was hosted for the first time last year at Ritson Campus’ Mansfield hall – with the pandemic interrupting normal routines, this year it was held online.  Insika Project Officer, Lindokuhle Mbhele, said they make it their mission to address challenging topics.

“As you know, gender-based violence has been on the rise during lockdown.  Therefore, the topic featured a lot in this year’s discussion,” said Mbhele.

Insika’s advisor, Sizwe Gumede said despite the lockdown he would consider the conference a success.

“Not that we didn’t expect it, but the numbers were low this year,” he said.

He said last year they filled up Mansfield hall and some students had to sit down, whereas this year they had about 70 students attending online.  He went on to say that there are a lot of disturbances when you are doing things online, things like cooking while on the conference.

“People may have network and data problems,” he added.

Lungelo Zulu, a student attendee, said that the conference being online had its downsides but that he learnt a lot from the conference.

“One thing I learnt was when one of the speakers, Siyanda Biyela, told us that gender-based violence isn’t just physical, but verbal and emotional as well,” said Zulu.

Picture: Nkosenhle Sibisi