‘Soccer boss say sorry’ must
Former MP accusing official of rape reveals another woman has come forward Nonkonyana calls for official to be suspended
Healing and forgiveness – and for the top soccer administrator to admit he has done wrong.
That is what Jennifer Ferguson hopes to achieve by telling her story of alleged rape. That and opening a conversation she believes must be had in South Africa about the country’s troubled legacy of violence and rape.
As Ferguson revealed yesterday that another woman has come forward saying she too was raped by the soccer boss, former soccer boss Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana told Sowetan the allegations were tarnishing the image of soccer in the country.
“I can only hope that the leadership of South African football could meet and consider giving him leave of absence as we can ill afford this at the moment,” he said.
Ferguson said she got a message from somebody who experienced the same thing with the soccer boss.
“I don’t know if she will be ready to disclose … [she is] a relative of somebody in a very high position. It’s a big step to step out,” she said.
The 56-year-old singer and former ANC MP has spent the past two days – since revealing her alleged rape – facing a barrage of questions while coming to terms with speaking out 24 years later.
And while Ferguson is resolute in her call “for all of us to have the courage to move out of the places that have shamed us”, the soccer boss has gone to ground. Phone calls, WhatsApp messages and visits to his home yielded no response.
Ferguson said she did not want to commit to opening a criminal case.
At lunchtime yesterday, after hours of interviews, an exhausted sounding Ferguson said: “This hasn’t been my intention. If you’ve only got so many years to live you have to ask how are you going to live them.
“Part of healing is coming forward with the truth. If he could come forward in truth ... and an apology,” she said as her voice trailed off.
Asked whether she believed that would ever be a reality, she said: ““This is not a new conversation for us in South Africa.
“The TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] process started in ’94 and for all its flaws and shortcomings, it was a revolutionary model.
“We [Ferguson and the soccer boss] met in this terrible space. Who knows how he is processing this. Maybe there is going to be something good out of this.”
Ferguson said the past 24 years have been peppered with bouts of disassociation, alienation of her own sexuality and delayed post-traumatic stress. Then the social media campaign #MeToo broke – and with it something inside Ferguson.
The impetus she gained from the campaign allowed Ferguson to sit down and write, initially just a Facebook post alluding to rape by a man in a powerful position.
“I had lots of responses with one asking who it was. It hadn’t been my intention to name him but something felt uneasy and I was wrestling with it.
“I went to sleep and when I woke up it wasn’t even a decision. I wrote the post in five minutes and then I could post in peace.”
While Ferguson has found her voice the soccer boss, officials and members of the ANC, have remained silent.
When asked yesterday for a response to the allegations ANC regional spokesman Gift Ngqondi said: “The difficult part with this issue is that it is only the word of Jennifer Ferguson and we have not heard the word of [the] comrade so it will be difficult for us to respond.” – additional reporting by Isaac Mahlangu