The Durban University of Technology (DUT) Student Representative Council (SRC) launched their Pad A Girl Drive campaign. This initiative was recently hosted at the Indumiso campus, in Pietermaritzburg.

The SRC Secretary-General, Joyful Grabashe said the Pad A Girl Drive is a sanitary pad initiative that seeks to bridge the gap and speaks to the fact that sex is optional, but menstruation comes natural to women.

Through this initiative which commenced in 2020/21, the SRC distributed sanitary pads and they also gave out condoms. In addition, there were hamper giveaways to students who answered questions related to the DUT ENVISION2030 strategy.

According to Gcabashe, the aim of the Pad A Girl Drive initiative was to make female students feel more comfortable during their menstrual periods and to not miss classes due to lack of sanitary pads. The SRC wants every student to have access to sanitary pads, despite their financial backgrounds. They saw it fit to intervene with this initiative because they believe that students should not be hindered by circumstances out of their control and feel strongly that no student should miss out on academics due to human nature.

The SRC plans to host the Pad A Girl Drive monthly, however, they realised that sponsorship would be the determining factor if the initiative was to continue into 2024.

This campaign intertwines with DUT’s ENVISION2030 Stewardship perspective because the SRC feels the genuine responsibility of taking care of its people.

“Our main aim is to assist students in need, the students who cannot afford to buy themselves sanitary pads but need them,” said Gcabashe.

In addition, there are other key programmes that the SRC is working on, such as the Students as Champions of DUT Values and Principles as well as the official launch of the Masifunde Sonke Campaign. This campaign will address student historical debt, where the SRC will use the available resources to lobby convocation and the alumni of the institution to assist in paying the historical debt that students are burdened with, in order to gain access to their qualification and help emancipate the communities that they come from.

Pictured: SRC members, Zwakele Mkhize, Projects Officer (PMB) and the Deputy President, Thandolwethu April handing out sanitary pads and condoms to students.

Sibahle Ngcobo