Former ambassador Norman Mashabane is guilty of sexual harassment, the Pretoria High Court found on Friday.
More than three years after Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma overturned a guilty verdict against Mashabane, the court decided otherwise.
The Public Servants’ Association (PSA) and foreign affairs employee Lara Swart asked the court to overturn Dlamini-Zuma’s decision to uphold Mashabane’s appeal against his guilty verdict. He was found guilty on sexual-harassment charges during internal disciplinary hearings.
”The finding of guilt on three charges of sexual harassment and the sanction of dismissal is confirmed,” Deputy Judge President Jerry Shongwe ruled on Friday.
”I’m relieved it’s over, and very thankful to the PSA,” was all Swart was prepared to say after the verdict, which only lasted a few minutes.
Mashabane, who is currently the political adviser to Limpopo Premier Sello Moloto, was not at court. He failed to contest the PSA’s court action after initially indicating that he would.
PSA deputy general manager, Manie de Clercq, said he was happy that the case had finally been resolved.
”A dark cloud which was around for longer than three years was lifted from our member’s [Swart] head; her name is now cleared,” he said.
Swart was one of several complainants against Mashabane. They were stationed together in Indonesia where Mashabane was South Africa’s ambassador.
He was found guilty at an initial hearing in 2001 on a battery of charges that included stroking the buttocks of an employee, molesting a staff member in a lift and making suggestive motions with his tongue to another.
The panel recommended he be fired, but he appealed the judgement and was allowed to continue in his post pending the outcome.
In June 2003 another charge was laid against him, and he was again found guilty.
The findings were reversed by Dlamini-Zuma, acting as the appeal authority, who suggested that Mashabane was being dragged through the mud for exposing motor-vehicle fraud at the embassy.
Dlamini-Zuma will have to study the judgement of the Pretoria High Court before deciding if any further action can be taken against Mashabane.
Her spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the minister had not yet seen the judgement. ”She will have to study the judgement and reason for it before deciding on the way forward,” he said. — Sapa