Times Of Swaziland: MANAGER SUSPENDED FOR SODOMY CLAIMS

MANAGER SUSPENDED FOR SODOMY CLAIMS
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By Bonsile Makhubu on 16/03/2019 01:14:00


MBABANE – A male officer has been suspended from work and further reported to
the police for alleged sexual assault of male employees.
The officer is employed by Pots Construction in a project where the company is
building Enhlitiyweni High School under a joint project by the Ministry of
education and the Japanese government.
The school is situated at KaNcesi, an area between Mnyokane and Maguga in the
Hhohho region.
Most of the men employed there are members of the community as it was agreed at
inception of the project in 2018 that the local labour force should be engaged
in order to alleviate unemployment level.
A source, who also works in this project, said when he heard about the
allegations, he did not take them seriously because he got them from an employee
they have always known as a heavy user of alcohol.
“But when the talk intensified we started giving it attention together with
some senior employees, even though we did it privately.”
He said many reports came through and it also transpired that some of those who
allegedly almost fell victim to the manager decided to quit their jobs in fear
of victimisation.
“We realised this was serious because we approached some of those who had
resigned due to his advances and they told us similar accounts,” he alleged.
victims
The source revealed that most of the victims whom the suspect allegedly sexually
assaulted said they would hang around with him after work and enjoy some alcohol
at local bars.
“They said he would buy them lots of beer and when they were drunk, he would
take one of them with him for the night and when they eventually became sober,
they would realise they were sleeping at his place and that they had been
sexually assaulted,” he alleged.
Chairman of the community development committee handling the project, Sakhi
Dlamini, confirmed receiving reports that implicated the manager as a suspect in
the matter.
He said he first got wind of the matter over three weeks ago when one employee
called him to report it.
“I did not rush to report it further because I felt we needed evidence before
we could start pinning him as a suspect,” he said.
He said the matter reached a peak midweek when another male employee reported
the same  issue and even went to hospital where he was treated for an illness
related to sexual assault.
“When he returned, he informed us about this and further reported it to the
police. I also arranged for a meeting with the other managers of the company and
we deliberated on the matter,” the chairman said.
Affected
He said he was also going to discuss the issue with the rest of the committee
members because most of the affected employees who hailed from the community had
since abandoned work.
“It’s a pity that the project came here as an initiative to develop the area
and also create employment opportunities for local people. However, now it has
been dented with this incident, which is quite uncommon in the area,” he said.
Dlamini said most people in the area were not familiar with such a practice
because it was located in the rural areas where most people heard little about
such encounters.
He did mention that they were still very grateful with the government of
Eswatini and that of Japan for considering their area for the construction of
the school.
Pots Construction Managing Director Sanele Mashwama confirmed knowledge of the
matter and said they learned about it on Wednesday.