Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

A woman allegedly groped by the inspector-general of the SANDF did not report the incident to her boss for fear of sparking a diplomatic incident.

The woman, who cannot be identified, yesterday told the military court in Thaba Tshwane that she was scared of reporting the alleged incident involving Major-General Mxolisi Petane, who was the military attaché to Sweden at the time.

The woman has accused Petane of groping her breasts and rubbing up against her in a hotel in Stockholm in October 2003.

She accompanied former Deputy Defence Force Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge to Sweden for defence talks.

She testified that she believed that had she told Madlala-Routledge and action was taken, it would have led to the cancellation of the defence talks.

The military court heard that Petane – a prominent former MK member – met the woman when she arrived with Madlala-Routledge in Sweden in October 2003.

Petane – who has pleaded not guilty to the charges – invited the woman to have dinner with him at a restaurant and the two of them later had breakfast in the hotel where they stayed.

The woman said she accepted Petane’s dinner invitation because she believed their encounter would be purely business.

She said that Petane behaved in a caring and professional manner during breakfast.

“But on our way back to the room he made a comment which I found strange.

“He asked me ‘how is my love life?’ ”

“I ignored the comment and we proceeded to my room,” the woman said. She told the court that while in her room Petane, “in a very swift movement”, pressed himself against her from the back and put his arms around her waist.

“He put his hands underneath my jacket and touched my breasts. This came as a shock to me. I asked him what he was doing and moved away. He said he was sorry.”

She told the court that she was extremely upset and went to the SA embassy where she phoned her office manager Barney Ntsoeng.

“I was shocked by the incident, but I had to pull myself together because I had to do a job.”

Earlier, Petane failed in his bid to have presiding judge Captain Sannie Masota recuse herself.

He complained that he would be prejudiced because of interference in the case by Madlala-Routledge.

Masota said: “There is no suggestion from the former deputy minister on what decision should be taken by the court in this case.”

Madlala-Routledge – now the deputy health minister – in November expressed concern that Petane was promoted to the rank of major-general (from brigadier-general) in contravention of military policy.