Three years after she was sexually assaulted by her colleague and best friend, a prison warder has spoken out about how she was degraded and humiliated following the ordeal.
Nomthandazo Mahlangu, 48, said she has decided to go public about the incident, which took place at her New Brighton home on November 26 2016, because she wanted to bring about public awareness that sexual assault was not only perpetrated by men.
Mahlangu, who works for the Department of Correctional Services at the North End Prison, spoke after colleague Celia Mandeka, 44, of Uitenhage, was found guilty of sexual assault when she appeared in the Port Elizabeth Regional Court on Tuesday.
The assault occurred after an end-of-the-year staff party when Mahlangu offered Mandeka a place to sleep for the night as her husband could not fetch her from Uitenhage.
Mahlangu spoke of how ashamed she was when she went and reported the incident to the police.
“It was humiliating,” she said.
“Even colleagues would whisper under the table about this ordeal, but I am glad I can talk openly about it now.”
Mandeka, a married mother of two boys, admitted to sexually assaulting her friend by touching her private parts.
She was sentenced to 40 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition she was not convicted of a similar offence.
She said she was drunk at the time.
“But I knew what I was doing was wrong and against the law. I am sorry and apologise.
“I hope she will be able to forgive,” she said.