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City Press reports that Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) CEO Phelisa Nkomo lodged a same-sex harassment grievance before a decision was taken to suspend her.
The details of the same-sex grievance were laid out in a letter sent by her legal team, Salijee Govender van der Merwe, on 6 June. However, it is unclear who the alleged perpetrator of the harassment was, as neither the commission nor the law firm would reveal details. Nkomo was placed on precautionary suspension with immediate effect on 29 May by the commission’s chairperson, Advocate Nthabiseng Sepanya-Mogale, pending an investigation against her. However, Sepanya-Mogale did not disclose the reasons for Nkomo’s suspension, other than to say that there had been several deliberations at the commission’s plenary, due to “challenges” experienced with Nkomo weeks before. Some of these challenges apparently related to the alleged failure of the portfolio committee on women, youth and persons with disabilities to approve the commission’s annual performance plan and a grievance lodged by provincial managers against Nkomo. She was appointed on 17 January amid a lengthy legal dispute between the commission and former CEO Keketso Maema. In the letter from Nkomo’s law firm, it was claimed that Nkomo had been bullied and harassed for a considerable period by Sepanya-Mogale. The alleged bullying and harassment, the law firm wrote, were so severe that they took a toll on Nkomo’s mental and physical health. “When our client scraped together enough courage to formally bring this to the attention of the plenary, she was suspended by the very same person who was the cause of bullying and harassment,” the letter read. The legal team argued that Nkomo’s suspension had been unfair.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Msindisi Fengu at City Press (subscriber access only)
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