An official in the Department of Public Works, who is also the husband of the department’s deputy minister, has been placed on special leave following allegations of sexual harassment.
Simon Zulu, hired by the department as a guide to his partially blind wife Henrietta Bogopane-Zulu, has been accused of sexual harassment by a female colleague.
Zulu has been accused of sending a junior staff member in his wife’s department unsavoury SMSes, threats of firing her if she did not have sex with him, and calling her names.
According to a letter of grievance from the staff member, the deputy minister told the woman to encourage her husband by kissing him, allowing him into her room on trips and even telling him she loved him so that she could tape it.
The woman cannot be named as she is a victim of sexual harassment.
The allegations of sexual harassment she lodged were ignored for nearly four months – despite the woman informing the director in the deputy minister’s office, the chief of staff in the office of the minister and finally former public works minister Geoff Doidge.
Now Zulu has joined his accuser on special leave. The woman was placed on special leave by the department until the investigation is complete.
According to the grievance letter, Zulu initially declared his love for the woman, which she rejected and laughed off.
While he was on a trip to Vienna in July Zulu threatened her with expulsion if she did not have a sexual relationship with him. He even told her that the deputy minister would not believe her allegations as “he had done it before with others”.
A committee probing the allegations is expected to report to Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde soon. - The Mercury