Activists call for new impetus in Jordaan rape probe

CIVIL rights movement #NotInMyName has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Gauteng police chief Elias Mawela and SA Human Rights Commission provincial head Buang Jones, demanding action on the rape allegations against beleaguered SA Football Association (Safa) boss Danny Jordaan by former ANC MP Jennifer Ferguson.

“Back in 2018, Ms Jennifer Ferguson laid a criminal charge against Safa president Danny Jordaan. At the time, we at #NotInMyName joined South Africans from different walks of life who called for speedy justice and demanded accountability from Mr Jordaan.

“In narrating her ordeal, Ms Ferguson made it clear that she had tried in vain to engage Mr Jordaan for a mediation process. She was seeking closure,” said #NotInMyName secretary-general Themba Masango.

Masango said, in the letters to Ramaphosa, Mawela and Jones, the civil rights movement also voiced its displeasure over the handling of sexual assault cases in South Africa.

“President Ramaphosa himself has categorised gender-based violence as a pandemic while we are also dealing with Covid-19. How can sexual assault be a pandemic that we do not want to address? Is it because of Mr Jordaan’s influence at Safa and his proximity to politicians? We expected all allegations of rape to be taken seriously,” he said.

He said #NotInMyName demanded to know what investigation had been carried out so far and where it stalled.

“Mr Danny Jordaan, as someone who occupies a very important and influential position in the country, must step aside from his office as proper investigations are conducted into the matter. Like other victims of crime in this country, Ms Ferguson must be afforded the engagements and empathy she has been seeking from the SAPS and the courts,” said Masango.

In October 2017, Ferguson alleged that Jordaan had raped her in a Nelson Mandela Bay hotel room 25 years ago. She laid a complaint against him in March 2018 in Johannesburg.

Jordaan, through his attorneys, has denied the repeated allegations, labelling Ferguson’s motives as “deeply suspect”. |