The head of South Africa’s football association, Danny Jordaan has denied accusations that he raped South African singer and former Member of Parliament, Jennifer Ferguson over 20 years ago.
Ferguson in a blog said that that she was raped by Mr. Jordaan nearly 24 years ago in in a hotel in Port Elizabeth city in what she said was a painful experience.
The singer who now lives in Sweden, said she had to speak out after being inspired by a campaign called #MeToo campaign on social media.
Mr Jordaan was in charge of organizing the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He is also a leading member of the ANC.
Ferguson said in her blog that Mr. Jordan came to her hotel suite during the incident when she had performed at a dinner and “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,” the singer alleged.
She further said that after being raped and “Not sure what to do, I washed and left the hotel and began to walk. I reached the beach and sat there a very long time trying to process what had happened.”
“The thought of going to the police felt intolerable. What would I say? Should I have screamed louder? Fought him off harder? Had I been complicit in some way? All these questions raged in my mind. I wept,” Ferguson wrote.
But Danny Jordaan is now breaking his silence after the allegation was made last month by issuing a statement on Wednesday.
The statement released by Jordaan’s attorney, Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi said that “Ms Ferguson has alleged that Dr Jordaan raped her 24 years ago. Dr Jordaan denies that he raped Ms Ferguson.
“In light of the scourge of gender-based violence in this country and Dr Jordaan’s sensitivity toward the issue he had to consider carefully his response, if any, in public to the allegations made by Ms Ferguson”.
The statement further said “Whilst Dr Jordaan supports public debate as an essential tool to highlight the issue of gender-based violence, however, in this case there are two opposing versions that cannot be resolved in the media, or elsewhere, in substitution for a court of law.”
“We have accordingly, as his attorneys, advised Dr Jordaan that he must not participate in a public discourse of the allegation made against him by Ms Ferguson. From a legal viewpoint, serious allegations of the kind made by Ms Ferguson can only be ventilated in a court of law, where the rights of all parties are protected,” the statement added.
The singer however said she is not “speaking out to get revenge on Danny Jordaan or a million South African men like him. I am doing this so we can help each other be courageous, speak out and begin to heal as we find we are not alone,”
Source: Africafeeds.com
