Sexual assault charges mar UCT mission

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Cape Town - Sexual assault charges have marred a high-level UCT mission to Sutherland to begin the dignified repatriation of the unethically obtained skeletal remains of Khoi slaves to their families. The charges result from an early morning knock on the guest house room door of one of the UCT delegates. When the woman opened the door, she was shocked to find one of her hosts, a senior official in the Sutherland’s municipal manager’s office, standing there naked. When he attempted to enter her room, she screamed for help. “She was terrified and hysterical,” said the guest house owner, who asked not to be named. “The police were called and he was taken away.” The woman later laid charges on her return to Cape Town at Rondebosch Police Station.

Police sources confirmed that the case has been handed over to the Wynberg division of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.

Calls to the alleged perpetrator - whose name is known to the Weekend Argus - and his boss, municipal manager Jannie Fortuin, went unanswered.

A friend of the accused claims he was under the influence that night and was looking for the toilet when he mistakenly knocked on the wrong door.

UCT refused to elaborate on the incident but did confirm it.

“The University of Cape Town confirms that a delegation from the institution was in Sutherland from Sunday, 30 September to Tuesday, 2 October 2018 on official university business,” said media liaison manager Elijah Moholola.

“In the early hours of Tuesday morning, an unfortunate incident allegedly took place in one of the guest houses used by UCT staff when an individual tried to gain entry to the room in which a UCT staff member was staying.

“The university confirms that none of our staff members were physically harmed as a result of the incident, although they were left traumatised.

“The alleged perpetrator has been identified and we have written to his employer calling for them to investigate the matter.

“The university has provided support in every way possible to the affected staff member as soon as we found out about the incident. We will continue to support the staff member - and any other member of the team that travelled and was affected by this - through the relevant services that UCT has in place, including but not limited to counselling and legal support.”

At a media briefing this week, vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng revealed discussions had been held with Sutherland family members and their community to repatriate the remains which had been discovered in the skeletal collection in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

UCT believes the skeletons were exhumed by a Sutherland farmer in the 1920s and sent to the university.

Evidence is the unethically obtained remains are of Khoisan people captured and forced to work as slaves.

UCT had been shocked by the discovery of “this shameful chapter” in its history, and put in place a collaborative process to make some form of amends for what had happened, he said.

“We hope that this process of repatriation will go some way to restore the dignity that was stolen from them,” she added without any mention of the alleged sexual assault on one of her staff members.

Noting the solemn moment of restorative justice, delegation leader, deputy vice-chancellor Loretta Feris remarked on the “gracious way” they were welcomed in Sutherland.

“We had moments where we had shared pain in having to deal with this, but there was graciousness and warmth, and we appreciate the community for that.”

Weekend Argus