The charges against Stephen Phinias Museki and Admire
Herbert Makani were filed by three former employees who allege they were
victimised on frivolous grounds after resisting sexual advances.
The matter was investigated by the Zimbabwe Gender
Commission in 2018 under case ZGC/4/2018 and a report, whose copy is in the
hands of The NewsHawks, was later presented to the parliamentary committe on
Gender by the commission’s chairperson, Margret Mukahanana Sangarwe.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) sexual harrassment is
unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature which makes a person feel offended,
humiliated and or intimidated.
It includes situations where a person is asked to engage in
sexual activity as a condition of that person’s employment as well as
situations which create an environment which is hostile, intimidating or humiliating
for the recipient.
The commission held a full hearing in which all witnesses
involved were given the opportunity to testify.
After the hearing, the two directors were found guilty of
sexual abuse and recommendations were made to the ministry of Home Affairs,
department of Immigration, Public Service Commission and ministry of Justice
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs in which they were ordered to take action
against the two to restore the dignity of women employees within the
Immigration department.
The abuse happened when Clemence Masango was still the
principal director of the department.
Masango appeared before the hearing on 12 December 2018
where he denied the allegations of failing or refusing or neglecting to address complaints of sexual harassment
which were lodged by the four complainants in the matter, saying the four never
reported their cases when he was still in charge of the department.
Public Service Commission secretary Jonathan Wutaunashe
told The NewsHawks that he is aware of the case and his commission was in the
process of investigating the matter when the two accused persons approached the
courts to challenge the process.
He said the commission is waiting for the court outcome
before proceeding with investigations.
“I am aware of the report by Gender Commission regarding
two bosses from the department of Immigration. We operate differently with the
Gender Commission so after receiving the report, we set our own board to
investigate the issue according to our protocols. It was during that period
when the accused persons approached the courts to challenge the process. However,
we are still waiting for the court outcome so that we can proceed with our
investigations” said Wutaunashe.
Efforts to get comments from Museki, who is the director in
charge of administration and Makani, the principal immigration officer, were
fruitless as their mobile phones went unanswered.
An employee who answered the phone at the department’s head
office said she was not allowed to talk to the media but said she was aware of
the case.
“I am not allowed to speak to the media and it is also not
my duty to give you their contacts. I am aware of that case which was
investigated by the gender commission. Why can’t you talk to the complainants
for more details?” said the employee.
Immigration Workers’ Union chairperson Nkosana Mthunzi told
The NewsHawks that the department is run mafia style where married women are
being abused on a daily basis without anyone being charged.
He said some managers in the department are corrupt,
costing the government millions of dollars as they employ relatives and their
runners into key positions.
“It started during the tenure of Masango where the
department was run like a family tuckshop. As l am speaking, l was suspended by
the cartel for leading protests against the rot. I was fired retrospectively in
2018 for being absent from work for a day in 2012. I appealed at the Labour
Court and the case is still being heard. They fired me after hearing that we
appealed to the Gender Commission so my letter of dismissal came a few days
before we appear in parliament. We are worried that these sex maniacs are still
within the department after the investigations. People are promoted through
nepotism depending on who is your relative. Vehicles are being abused with
bosses using department cars at their rural homes,” said Mthunzi.
According to the report, one of the complainants is a
married 50-year-old Bulawayo woman who joined the department in 1991 stationed
in Victoria Falls.
She was transferred to Harare where she worked at the then
Harare International Airport. In August 2007 she was transferred to the
department’s head office.
She alleged that from the time she arrived at the head
office, Museki used to look at her lustfully, showing sexual interest in her. Museki
later ordered her to perform typing work in his office.
The advances by Museki continued and, when the complainant
refused, he was offended and began to abuse her verbally.
In 2009, the complainant was promoted to the position of
assistant regional immigration officer after passing the interviews and it was
in that period when Museki proposed love but she advised him that she was
married and not interested, but that led her verbal transfer back to Harare
International Airport in 2010 with no official communication.
The abuse continued when she was later promoted to regional
immigration officer and she was not advised by the bosses, which she viewed as
hostile conduct in reprisal for turning down his love proposals.
“The commission’s findings point to a culture of workplace
violence at the department of Immigration and a laissez faire approach to
protection of women from violence in the workplace by the parent ministry of
Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage and the Public Service Commission which is
the employer. It also emerged that there are inadequate legal protection
mechanisms for women in workplaces since the existing laws such as the Labour
Act and the Public Service Regulations do not comprehensively cover the issue
of sexual harrassment in and at the workplace,” reads part of the report. THE
NEWSHAWKS
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