News24 reports that Parliament's Higher Education Portfolio Committee is to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the fitness of newly appointed vice-chancellor of Sefako Makgatho University, Professor Peter Mbati, who got the job despite allegations of sexual harassment hanging over his head.
During a virtual sitting with the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) on Tuesday, the committee found that the recommendations in the commission’s report regarding allegations of sexual harassment against Mbati were never implemented. Mbati was accused of sexual harassment by Professor Thidziambi Phendla during his time as vice-chancellor of the University of Venda. Phendla submitted a complaint to the CGE in 2012, alleging that she was sexually harassed on several occasions by Mbati between 2008 and 2010. After an investigation, the CGE in its December 2014 report found the allegations to be convincing and the failure by the university to discipline Mbati to be a direct contravention of its policy on sexual harassment. The recommended in the report was that that a formal disciplinary inquiry be instituted against Mbati. Although Mbati sought to review the commission's report in the Gauteng High Court, he failed to get the recommendations set aside and only succeeded in getting certain portions redacted.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jason Felix at News24
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