Kaya FM board and its parent company, African Media Entertainment (AME), have been accused by an anti-gender-based violence organisation of normalising the pain of sexual harassment,among others.
Africa Daily can exclusively reveal that Women Inspired Solutions for Empowerment (WISE) has written a strongly worded letter to Kaya FM board chairperson Connie Molusi, expressing its disappointment in him, the board and AME for rehiring the station’s former boss, Greg Maloka.
The letter was written by WISE preventative advocate Brenda Madumise-Pajibo, who was hired by the previous board, chaired by Sizwe Mncwango, to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and financial misconduct against Maloka in 2020.
Maloka jumped ship in the middle of Madumise-Pajibo’s investigation, but she still proceeded to probe him and made adverse findings against him in a report she submitted to the previous board.
In her report, Madumise-Pajibo stated that Maloka violated the sexual harassment laws and exposed Kaya FM to the risk of litigation and reputational damage.
However, despite the adverse findings, the new board turned a blind eye to Madumise-Pajibo’s findings and rehired Maloka as executive business partner of United Stations, an entity that sells advertising for Kaya FM.
To rub salt into the wound, the board offices Maloka at Kaya FM headquarters in Rosebank, where he interacts and interfaces with his alleged sexual harassment victims.
This has left WISE frothing at the mouth.
“We thought and believed that the leadership of Kaya, through its board, would be attuned and alive to creating a workplace environment that is free from violence, sexual harassment, intimidation, bullying and discrimination, simply because Kaya FM exists and operates in a country that espouses the values of equality, justice, fairness, dignity, transparency and accountability and is equally expected to act when any employee is subjected to indignity, any form of abuse, discrimination, violence and harassment.
“The decision of the AME and Kaya board (“boards”) to think that it was wise and appropriate to bring Mr. Maloka back into Kaya FM sphere, leading to an interaction with some of those who were victims of his unwelcome sexual advances, is not just tone deaf and insensitive but a clear sign and demonstration of the normalisation, tolerance and minimisation of the harm inflicted,” reads the letter, dated 7 August 2020.
Madumise-Pajibo bemoaned AME and Kaya board for flagrantly displaying disdain for the process and the outcome of her investigation commissioned by the previous board.
“Surely, the findings of that investigation and the subsequent events that followed cannot be dismissed and ignored or reasoned away to justify the return of Mr. Maloka to an environment that is still reeling from the effects of his tenure as CEO of Kaya FM.
“The boards’ inactions cannot be divorced and looked at in isolation of power, gender inequality, bias, sexism, systemic structural problems linked to broader social, economic and political distributions of power that vest authority, decision-making and belief in men.
“Power gives authority and credibility; it is the ability to dismiss the words of others,” reads the letter, which was co-signed by Onnica Nonhlanhla Makwakwa.
Madumise has pleaded with Molusi, AME and the Kaya FM board not to subject Maloka’s alleged victims to another torture and to remove him from the station’s sphere.
“The boards under your stewardship have done so to the many of the women employees at Kaya FM. As succinctly said by Catherine MacKinnon: ‘Power is being believed no matter how little sense you make and how little evidence you have. Powerlessness is not being believed no matter how much evidence you have and how much sense you make.’
“We therefore implore the boards to act swiftly by removing Mr. Maloka from the Kaya FM sphere and environment. Just do better and demonstrate unequivocal leadership and challenge impunity and embrace accountability,” she said.
Speaking to Africa Daily, Madumise confirmed that she has addressed the letter to Molusi and has been waiting for his response.
She said that she has a lump in her throat about Maloka’s remployment and hoped that the board will reconsider its decision.
Attempts to solicit comments from Molusi drew a blank.
