A WOMAN, who claims to have endured seven years of sexual assault, repeatedly being raped and degraded by her boss in Bhisho, has come forward to report her story to the team investigating the “jobs for sex” scandal.
This comes a few weeks after the Saturday Dispatch published an exposé of the capital’s jobs for sex scandal. This after some senior managers were accused by the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) of using their positions to demand sexual favours in exchange for jobs and promotions.
Last month premier Phumulo Masualle responded to the exposé by setting up a team to probe the allegations. The revelations also prompted cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa to call on all victims in his department to come forward and report to the investigators.
So far only one official has contacted Xasa. He has confirmed this but refused to divulge details.
The Saturday Dispatch can today reveal the case is the alleged sexual abuse and rape of a junior official, who is now in her 50s, by her boss between June 2002 and August 2009. Her boss raped and sexually assaulted her 10 times during that period.
She tried unsuccessfully to get him to stop, reported it to his boss, whom she claims did nothing, and even reported it to her colleagues running the department’s employee assistance programme, which is meant to support vulnerable employees like her. Her boss is now a senior executive after he was promoted to a senior management position and his boss, who refused to investigate the allegations, has left the department.
In her signed four-page affidavit, she said she decided to come forward because she deserves justice.
She details how her trauma started in 2002 when a new manager joined her department. She, another official and the new manager were working outside the office and the department had booked them into a hotel for a night. That night her boss visited her in her hotel room.
“Having identified himself, I opened the door. He stepped in and locked the door. Without saying a word, he approached me, grabbed me, and forcefully tried to kiss me. During the scuffle, he tried to undress me.”
When he realised she was having her period “he immediately jumped up and left, but instructed me not to tell a single soul about the incident”.
This harassment continued every time they were on field trips.
During one of the trips she decided not sleep at the hotel. Her boss called her and gave her a verbal warning. He told her: “If I (do) not travel to sleep over, the booking would be regarded as a wasteful and fruitless expenditure”.
She arrived at the hotel and was given her room. Little did she know her tormentor was booked into the room next door. The two rooms were connected by an inter-leading door.
“At 11pm I felt a hand over my mouth and my arms were tightly gripped. I saw it was (him). He forcefully undressed and raped me. Afterwards he threatened me not to tell anyone about the incident,” the woman wrote in the affidavit signed at the Bhisho police station on May 20.
“Similar incidents happened thereafter (in which my boss) sexually abused me more than 10 times although I could not report them.”
The alleged rape, the repeated sexual assault and harassment was reported to the department’s employee assistance programme (EAP). Her boss’ manager was also made aware of it.
Yesterday, Xasa would only say he had instructed his department head Stanley Khanyile to investigate this case.
Khanyile confirmed they were investigating but refused to divulge further details, referring the Saturday Dispatch to departmental spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam.
Ngam said the matter was being dealt with internally. “Our department does not respond to leaked documents of any nature,” Ngam said referring to the affidavit. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
MY BOSS IN BHISHO RAPED ME
This comes a few weeks after the Saturday Dispatch published an exposé of the capital’s jobs for sex scandal. This after some senior managers were accused by the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) of using their positions to demand sexual favours in exchange for jobs and promotions.
Last month premier Phumulo Masualle responded to the exposé by setting up a team to probe the allegations. The revelations also prompted cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa to call on all victims in his department to come forward and report to the investigators.
So far only one official has contacted Xasa. He has confirmed this but refused to divulge details.
The Saturday Dispatch can today reveal the case is the alleged sexual abuse and rape of a junior official, who is now in her 50s, by her boss between June 2002 and August 2009. Her boss raped and sexually assaulted her 10 times during that period.
She tried unsuccessfully to get him to stop, reported it to his boss, whom she claims did nothing, and even reported it to her colleagues running the department’s employee assistance programme, which is meant to support vulnerable employees like her. Her boss is now a senior executive after he was promoted to a senior management position and his boss, who refused to investigate the allegations, has left the department.
In her signed four-page affidavit, she said she decided to come forward because she deserves justice.
She details how her trauma started in 2002 when a new manager joined her department. She, another official and the new manager were working outside the office and the department had booked them into a hotel for a night. That night her boss visited her in her hotel room.
“Having identified himself, I opened the door. He stepped in and locked the door. Without saying a word, he approached me, grabbed me, and forcefully tried to kiss me. During the scuffle, he tried to undress me.”
When he realised she was having her period “he immediately jumped up and left, but instructed me not to tell a single soul about the incident”.
This harassment continued every time they were on field trips.
During one of the trips she decided not sleep at the hotel. Her boss called her and gave her a verbal warning. He told her: “If I (do) not travel to sleep over, the booking would be regarded as a wasteful and fruitless expenditure”.
She arrived at the hotel and was given her room. Little did she know her tormentor was booked into the room next door. The two rooms were connected by an inter-leading door.
“At 11pm I felt a hand over my mouth and my arms were tightly gripped. I saw it was (him). He forcefully undressed and raped me. Afterwards he threatened me not to tell anyone about the incident,” the woman wrote in the affidavit signed at the Bhisho police station on May 20.
“Similar incidents happened thereafter (in which my boss) sexually abused me more than 10 times although I could not report them.”
The alleged rape, the repeated sexual assault and harassment was reported to the department’s employee assistance programme (EAP). Her boss’ manager was also made aware of it.
Yesterday, Xasa would only say he had instructed his department head Stanley Khanyile to investigate this case.
Khanyile confirmed they were investigating but refused to divulge further details, referring the Saturday Dispatch to departmental spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam.
Ngam said the matter was being dealt with internally. “Our department does not respond to leaked documents of any nature,” Ngam said referring to the affidavit. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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