Soccer boss Danny Jordaan says he will respond to allegations that he raped singer Jennifer Ferguson in a Port Elizabeth hotel room 24 years ago - but not yet.
The administrator was accused on Facebook this week by Ferguson, who told the Sunday Times she had considered contacting the alleged attacker before going public, but could not find his number.
Approached for comment at a South African Football Association event yesterday, Jordaan said he was aware of the allegations and would respond down the line.
"No, no. I'm not speaking about this matter. Times Media [the former name of the Sunday Times's parent company, Tiso Blackstar], you have taken your position. Good luck," he said.
"Go on and write whatever you want. Times Media has been doing it all along but I will respond," Jordaan said when asked whether he was aware of the sexual assault claims and when he would respond.
The reporter was then ejected from the venue and told interviews could be arranged with Safa spokesman Dominic Chimhavi.
Chimhavi did not reply to requests for comment this week.
While Ferguson, 56, says she does not regret her public statement, she is adamant she doesn't want Jordaan to face criminal charges. Instead, she wants a public apology from him because she believes he is "suffering from sexual sicknesses".
"I actually looked for his contact details. It didn't come up. I don't know if I would have called him if I did find the number," Ferguson said from her home in Sweden.
Her claims of rape came as one of thousands of messages posted on social media platforms after US actress Alyssa Milano asked followers to respond with the #MeToo hashtag if they - like the victims of predatory Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein - had been sexually harassed.
In response, hundreds of South African women revealed online that they had been sexually assaulted. But #MeToo did not capture the country's attention in the way that #MenAreTrash did in the wake of the murder of Karabo Mokoena in April - until Ferguson's Facebook post and subsequent blog about her attack.
Media monitoring firm ROi Africa MD Tonya Khoury said that #MeToo had grown bigger than #MenAreTrash due to the hashtag of Ferguson's alleged attacker's name accompanying it.
Ferguson's Facebook post on Wednesday - which she refers to as a confrontational stand necessary to restore honour in government and leadership - featured a picture of Jordaan. It was captioned: "Disclosure after 24 years. I was probably not the only woman raped by this man."
Ferguson's blog post, "#metoo one night in PE", details the alleged rape at a Holiday Inn in Port Elizabeth in 1994. She claims the ordeal was over in about 20 seconds but felt like a lifetime.
Ferguson did not pursue a criminal charge at the time, nor did she confront Jordaan later.
"What would be more than sufficient for me ... is if [he] could come forward and release a public statement of ownership and also that he could speak on behalf of many men who are suffering from sexual sicknesses, this distorted sexual behaviour.
"I am interested in how we can rehabilitate and how we can reconcile in a way that is healing to all those involved. He has a family and a wife and children. As much as it has had great emotional impact in my family, I am sure his family must have dealt with the same thing," she said.
ONUS SHOULDN'T BE ON WOMEN
Anne Githuku-Shongwe, the South Africa-based representative of UN Women, said it was clear from recent incidents involving public figures that patriarchy and intimate-partner violence were in every part of society.
"The soul of this country and the soul of men in this country need to be dealt with if we are going to find a lasting response to this," she said.
While the #MeToo campaign had an impact, Sonke Gender Justice said this was not enough to sustain meaningful change.
"We need to challenge patriarchy, harmful masculinities, gender norms, attitudes, beliefs and stereotypes in our everyday lives - and more than anything, we need men to do this," said Sonke policy development and advocacy co-ordinator Marike Keller.
