Calls for victims to report cases

Any person who has encountered or is experiencing any form of sexual abuse in the workplace should report it. This was the guidance offered by members of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) who presented a Sexual Violence summit in Polokwane on Tuesday
According to Dennis Matotoka, Provincial Legal Advisor for the CGE many people are being sexually harassed at their respective workplaces every day but are ashamed and scared to report the cases.
Matokota said sexual harassment is one of the most heinous kinds of misconduct to plague a workplace. The workplace is a place to render service for an agreed remuneration. A workplace is not a place for testosterone filled employees. We discourage hugs and kisses at the workplace because if the recipient does not receive them well they can be viewed as sexual harassment. It is also unacceptable to call colleagues flirty names because that too can be regarded as sexual harassment.”

Explaining the symptoms of sexual harassment, Matokoka said it may include physical, verbal and non-verbal conduct. Physical conduct of a sexual nature refers to unwanted and deliberate physical contact such as touching a person, inappropriate hugs, sexual cat sounds, winking at a person, brushing against a person, sexual assault, rape or a strip search by or in the presence of a person of the opposite sex. “Verbal sexual harassment refers to unwelcome verbal comments which include subtle or explicit demands for, or offers of, sexual favour, unwelcome advances, telephone calls and texts, innuendos, suggestions and hints, comments with sexual overtones, sex-related jokes, insults or unwelcome graphic comments about a person’s body made in his or her presence or directed to him or her and or unwelcome and inappropriate inquiries about a person’s sex life, and or unwelcome whistling directed at a person or group of persons.
He also stressed that non-verbal forms of sexual harassment include, gratuitous display of sexually explicit written or audio-visual material. “Transmission or display of offensive email, screen savers or pornographic computer images. Offensive gestures or actions of a sexual nature including indecent exposure,” he elaborated.
Matotoka emphasised that sexual harassment has no place in a work place because it violates the rights of the employee and serves as a barrier in that environment. “The employer is duty bound to put sexual harassment policies in place and further create a workplace that is free from gender oppression and inequality,” remarked Matatoka.
George Moroasui, Manager Legal Affairs and Ethics at the South African Council for Education encouraged teachers and students who are sexually abused at schools to report each case. “Some learners have been taken to places of safety to protect them from educators who are pestering them. Some learners have dropped out of school due to sexual harassment and pestering by the perpetrators. We must consider developing an online guideline on the gravity of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct between educators and learners in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher learning.”

Story: Herbert Rachuene
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