Station Commander convicted on sexual harassment charges. File image
A SENIOR police officer based on the south coast of Kwazulu-Natal was convicted of 13 counts of sexual harassment that he faced when he appeared at the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Two policewomen, who were previously under the supervision of Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Vivani Zuma, 54, while he was the Station Commander at the SAPS Umzinto police station, were the victims.
Zuma is presently attached to the Saps’ Port Shepstone cluster office.
They told the court that his alleged acts of sexually inappropriate conduct usually occurred, behind a shut door.
He would apparently summon them to his office on separate occasions and that’s where the inappropriate touching, groping, grabbing and making sexually suggestive comments occurred.
On one occasion, a victim was allegedly fondled, groped and subjected to Zuma’s sexually suggestive talk as she drove the police vehicle while they were on police duty.
The State represented by prosecutor Thiloshnee Naidoo led six witnesses during the trial, five of who were members from the SAPS, including the two victims, a Constable and Sergeant.
Pierre Lourens was the presiding Magistrate.
The alleged sexual harassment incidents occurred predominantly towards the latter part of 2018, 11 of which related to the 39-year-old Constable.
Both women have since spent long periods away from work due to the stress and trauma the harassment brought on them. On some occasions they needed hospitalisation and also received numerous sessions of professional therapy and counselling.
Apart from criminal charges, Zuma was also subjected to the SAPS’ internal disciplinary processes previously, based on the victims complaints.
He was cleared of any wrongdoing with the Constable and was suspended for two months regarding the claims made by the Sergeant.
In a statement made by the Constable, she said in August 2018, Zuma called her into his office, got her to shut the door and sit in front of him.
He allegedly enquired about the well being of her husband who had health challenges. Then he apparently switched the subject to his sexual preferences and he suggested that they have a child together.
The “shocked” Constable said, “you’re talking nonsense, read her statement.
It was alleged that Zuma then asked if he could hug her and moved quickly from behind his desk and embraced her as she attempted to leave his office.
He apparently called her back into his office two days later and Zuma made sexually suggestive comments once again and asked, “are you a good kisser” and told her how much he wanted to kiss her.
She rebuffed his advances. “No, I am a married woman and I don’t like what you are doing.”
Zuma allegedly continued with his advances and harassment of the Constable on various occasions.
Near the end of September 2018 she confided in another police officer (her friend), who, with the Constable’s permission got Zuma investigated for the harassment.
The Constable was subjected to his harassment while they travelled together in a police vehicle
It is alleged that Zuma also told policemen from other stations in Zulu that she was his girlfriend during the road trip.
In August 2018, the 42-year-old Sergeant was summoned into Zuma’s office. She said he asked her to shut the door and directed her where to sit.
Zuma apparently talked about work matters before asking about her birthday and told her that he wanted to take her out on the day.
She said that when she attempted to leave, he got out of his seat, grabbed her and held her forcefully against himself.
The Sergeant said in her statement that she managed to break free and felt humiliated by what had happened.
She felt afraid to talk about the incident to others at the station, fearing victimisation, due to the authority Zuma wielded.
During September 2018, while the other members were at a Heritage Day function, the Sergeant was apparently called into Zuma’s office when she returned from a course she attended.
She said he spoke about an arbitrary police matter and she realised that it was just a ruse to get her into his office and attempted to leave, but he allegedly moved towards her and pressed his body against her and started to kiss her neck.
“Out of anger and disgust,” she managed to pull away and left.
“I felt humiliated. My dignity had been violated. It caused stress for me at home and work. Work was becoming unbearable,” read her statement.
During his testimony, Zuma claimed that his interactions with the victims was by consensus.
Magistrate Lourens said the victims' accounts were on point and credible, while he said Zuma was not a good witness, his version was improbable, contradictory and constantly changed.
The matter returns to court in November.