/ 18 May 2018

Equal Education responds to the M&G – ‘We needed more time’

Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb
Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb

As stated in our public statement on Monday night, EE is committed to investigating all allegations of sexual impropriety as transparently as possible, while ensuring that there is a sensitive and supportive environment for survivors and witnesses to come forward.

It is in the best interests of survivors, as well as all EE staff and indeed the wider public, that the investigation panel be given the necessary space and support to conduct its work carefully.

These aims are not well served when we are given less than four business hours to respond to important and far-reaching questions that have yet to be thoroughly explored by the investigation panel.

READ MORE: NGO’s sexual harassment woes grow

In order to comment meaningfully on your questions, we first have to make our own enquiries within EE, in a manner that we will not intimidate complainants and witnesses. 

We acknowledge that concerns are being raised, including about past investigations regarding Doron Isaacs. We have appealed to people with information about these matters to come forward. We are committed to ensuring that any injustices committed by those associated with EE are investigated properly.

We do intend on responding to your queries to the best of our ability.

However, in the interests of the ongoing investigation, as well as ensuring that your readers are well informed, we urge you to reconsider the deadlines you have imposed on us. 

While you have marked your email “URGENT”, it is not apparent how your story will suffer if it is published later (quite the contrary, the story stands only to be improved by further investigation and verification). In the circumstances, the time you have afforded us to comment on the allegations is not reasonable.

UPDATE: Equal Education’s call for Doron Isaacs’ suspension after harassment allegations

If you decide to continue publishing the article based on the deadlines you have proposed, we believe it would be fair for you to include this full response at the end of your article, given the delicacy of the issues at hand.