Durban — A 27-year-old woman employee from the National Public Service Workers’ Union (UNPSWU) has been fired for “reporting” her alleged sexual assault by a senior leader of the union.
The leader forms part of the top-three structure which is the president, vice-president and national treasurer.
The woman was a personal assistant to the secretary-general of the union. According to the charge sheet, her sin was to escalate her complaint to the national executive committee and ask it to take action against the president for not acting on her complaint.
According to the charge sheet seen by the Daily News, the charges preferred against her were that she was disrespectful to the president since she had no right to communicate with the NEC directly. This is because only the president had a mandate to communicate with the NEC. She was also accused of breaching the protocol in that she was supposed to take the matter to the secretary-general first.
The woman, who cannot be named because she is a victim of sexual assault, was served with a letter of dismissal while she was awaiting a disciplinary hearing at the union offices in Durban on Tuesday.
Her dismissal took place after she had narrated her ordeal to the Daily News team, which had gone there to report on her appearance for disciplinary action.
The employee said she wrote to the NEC after noticing that the president was dragging his feet in taking action against the official. She said she did not understand what was delaying the president since the official had confessed to committing the offence.
She added that she had reported the matter to the secretary-general but seeing that there was no action she felt the need to take the matter forward.
She stated that initially the president and the leadership had supported her but later changed and sided with the official who had sexually assaulted her.
“I can’t believe that I am now fired for reporting my sexual assault to the top leadership structure. The incident happened in December, but to date, there is no action,” said the woman.
The union’s president, Pat Mphila, said the employee did breach the protocol and was disrespectful by directly informing the NEC without reporting the matter to the secretary-general.
He denied that he was not acting, saying the investigating team he appointed was yet to give him a report. He said the team had told him it was experiencing difficulty since the matter was also in court.
He said he was not aware of the confession and the official still insisted that the employee was his girlfriend.
Narrating her story, the employee said it was in December last year when the official called her and said he wanted to take her to do some union work in KwaDukuza the next day.
She said the official told her that he felt uncomfortable calling her directly, not via her boss, who was the secretary-general.
The employee said while in KwaDukuza the official told her he needed to check the price of a hoe because the woman doing gardening at his home in Mandeni, north of KwaDukuza, had said she needed it. She further stated that the official bought the hoe and decided to go to his house, not back to Durban as they were supposed to after work.
“When I asked why she was going with me to his house, he said it was still within working hours as it was not yet knock-off time. When we got to his house he tried to kiss me and I pushed him away. Then he slapped me and I slapped him back. We fought until he went to get a stick and assaulted me. He then took me to his bedroom and undressed me. He inserted his finger in my vagina, saying he could not have sex with me because he was still using his traditional herbs (muthi). After he ejaculated he then took me back to Durban,” said the employee.
She said she called the national secretary, president and her mother about the ordeal and opened a case with the police. She added that the official was arrested and released on bail but asked for an out-of-court settlement promising to compensate her with a 100% salary increase as well as building her cottages.
The employee said she agreed but since she wanted all that to be done legally, she opened a civil case where the official committed himself by signing a summons from the sheriff.
She said after the criminal case was withdrawn, the officials, including the president turned against her. They charged her and she was ultimately dismissed, which she said was a way of silencing her.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed that the man was charged with sex-related offences and appeared in court several times until the case was withdrawn.
A request for comment was sent to the official on Tuesday, but he has not responded.
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