Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The SANDF Inspector General, Major-General Mxolisi Petane, has denied allegations that he indecently assaulted a deputy minister’s former personal assistant in a Swedish hotel room.

Describing the allegations as “lies”, Petane told the military court in Thaba Tshwane yesterday that he accidentally bumped into former Deputy Defence Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge’s personal assistant while putting on his jacket in her hotel room.

“I apologised to her for doing that after she had said: ‘No, no, general.’”

The complainant disputed this, saying: “There is no way that he could put on his jacket while he put his arms around my waist.”

Petane is accused of fondling the complainant’s breasts and indecently rubbing his body against her on October 2003 when the two were in Stockholm for defence talks.

Petane said he became aware about the sexual harassment complaint only when he was due to fly to South Africa to bury an uncle after the deputy minister’s visit.

Petane’s legal representative, Major Sabelo Magaga, put it to the complainant that nothing had happened between her and his client.

“That is why you did not immediately report the incident to the former deputy minister,” said Magaga.

The complainant repeated her claim that the defence talks between the South African delegation and their Swedish counterparts would have been cancelled if she had informed Madlala-Routledge about the incident.

“I realised the urgency of reporting the matter and rushed to the South African Embassy in Stockholm to inform my office manager about the incident,” she said.

Magaga said Petane had touched the complainant by mistake while putting on his jacket which was in her hotel room.

The complainant disputed this, telling the court that Petane fondled her breasts.

“He violated me,” she said.

The complainant’s office manager, Buddy Ntsong, told the court he learned about the incident when the complainant phoned him on October 15.

Ntsong said the complainant was calm, contradicting the complainant’s earlier statement that Ntsong realised that she was upset and had consoled her.

He told the court that the complainant told him that she could not tell the Madlala-Routledge about the incident because she was scared it could cause friction between the two parties.

“I told her that this was a personal matter and she could deal with it as she deemed fit,” Ntsong said.

The case has been postponed to next month.