Jordaan advised not speak publicly on rape allegations

[caption id="attachment_226390" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Singer Jennifer Ferguson during Anthems of Democracy on April 25, 2014 at the Joburg Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa
Picture: Gallo Images / City Press / Lucky Nxumalo)[/caption]

Danny Jordaan has  been advised by his lawyers to not speak publicly on 24 years ago.

After weeks of silence Jordaan, via his attorney, released a statement today saying his perceived silence over the matter was a result of “his empathy with the victims of gender-based violence”.

The statement read: “Dr Jordaan has, however, after careful consideration decided to assert his innocence. Whilst Mr Jordaan supports public debate as an essential tool to highlight the issue of gender-based violence .. in this case there are two opposing versions that cannot be resolved in the media, or elsewhere, in substitution for a court of law. Mediation, as suggested by Ms Ferguson, runs the risk that the public will perceive that there is a cover up away from the glare of public scrutiny, and that there is one law for the powerful and another for the masses.”

It further said serious allegations of the nature made by Ferguson “can only be ventilated in a court of law” and that his lawyers had advised him not to “participate in a public discourse”.

The statement made no reference to allegations that two other unidentified women had come forward claiming Jordaan had abused them as well.

Ferguson took to social media last month writing a heartrending account of her alleged rape.

Almost 24 years ago, she wrote, a “pleasant and entertaining” Jordaan asked her to join him for a drink after a performance she had given at the hotel.

“I accepted his invitation to join him for a drink at the bar, but said I needed to go up to my suite and change from my performance dress.

“He joined me in the lift and said he would wait for me. I felt a little uneasy as he entered my suite, but I beckoned him into the lounge and asked him to wait there while I changed.”

Ferguson alleges that she entered the bedroom, closed the door and began to change when Jordaan entered and overpowered her.

She wrote: “He overpowered me and painfully raped me.

“It must have been over in about 20 seconds although it felt like a lifetime. He left immediately without saying a word.”