A senior SANDF general has denied all allegations that he indecently assaulted a deputy minister's former personal assistant in her Swedish hotel room.
Describing the allegations as "lies", Inspector General of the SANDF, Major-General Mxolisi Petane, told the military court in Thaba Tshwane on Wednesday that he accidentally bumped former Deputy Defence Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge's personal assistant as he put on his jacket in her hotel room. "I apologised to her for doing that after she had said 'no, no, general'."
The complainant disputed this, saying: "There is no way that he could put on his jacket while he put his arms around my waist."
Instead, she said, she could feel his whole body - from top to bottom - pressed against hers, but was unable to tell the court if Petane was sexually aroused or not.
Petane, the defence force's Inspector-General, is accused of fondling the complainant's breasts and indecently rubbing his body against hers in a Stockholm in October 2003, when he was South Africa's military attache to that country.
He has pleaded not guilty to sexual harassment and indecent assault charges.
Petane told the court that he had breakfast with the complainant and they later went to her room to look at gifts which the South Africans had brought for their Swedish counterparts during the defence talks.
The court heard that Madlala-Routledge did not confront Petane about the incident.
"Myself and the South African Ambassador to Sweden accompanied the deputy minister, her husband and the complainant to the airport in Stockholm and there was no mention of the incident in the hotel room," said Petane.
He said he only became aware about the sexual harassment complaint when he was due to fly to South Africa to bury his uncle after the deputy minister's visit.
Earlier, the complainant told the court that Madlala-Routledge would not tolerate any form of unprofessional behaviour.
Petane's legal representative Major Sabelo Magaga told the complainant that nothing had happened between her and his client.
"That is why you did not immediately report the incident to the former deputy minister," said Magaga.
The complainant repeated her evidence that the defence talks between the South African delegation and their Swedish counterparts would have been cancelled if she had informed Madlala-Routledge about the incident. "I realised the urgency of reporting the matter and rushed to the South African Embassy in Stockholm to inform my office manager about the incident," she said.
The complainant - who used her sister to demonstrate to the court how Petane allegedly held her - said she chose to use the telephone at the South African Embassy "because it was not convenient to use the deputy minister's cellphone".
"One does not ask a minister or deputy minister to use their cellphone," the complainant said.
Magaga said Petane touched the complainant by mistake while putting on his jacket which was in her hotel room.
The complainant disputed this telling the court that Petane fondled her breasts, but did not hurt her.
"He violated me," she said.
The complainant's office manager, Buddy Ntsong, told the court he got to know about the incident when she phoned him on October 15.
Ntsong said the complainant was calm, contradicting her earlier statement that Ntsong realised that she was upset and had consoled her.
He told the court that the complainant told him that she could not tell the Madlala-Routledge about the incident because she was scared it could cause friction between the two parties.
"I told her that this was a personal matter and she could deal with it as she deemed fit," Ntsong said.
He said he had previously used a minister or deputy minister's cellphone. "I have never encountered any problems," he said.
The case has been postponed to next month.