18 June 2003
Source: Herald Online
Prison head asked for ‘a hug and a kiss’
By Hendrick Mphande
FEISTY psychologist Maryke Vosloo gave graphic details yesterday of improper sexual advances allegedly made by the former head of Medium B prison at St Albans, Tamsanqa Khoza.
Mr Khoza, of Bridgemead, has pleaded not guilty to charges of indecent assault and crimen injuria.
Miss Vosloo recalled the professional working relationship she once had when she started working in Mr Khoza’s Medium B section in 1998.
However, things started to get out of control in April that year “when the boss started making improper advances”, she told the court.
“He called me one day and said he was feeling down and needed a kiss and hug. I replied that he must go and ask his wife,” said Miss Vosloo.
At times, the complainant claimed, Mr Khoza invited her but ordered that her boyfriend shouldn’t know about it.
Defence attorney Kuban Chetty said his client would deny the allegations against him when he testified.
He said Mr Khoza had been in the department of correctional services for 27 years and had never been accused of sexual harassment.
Mr Chetty also said the complainants had certain objectives. By laying charges against his client, he could lose his job and be removed from the department.
On several occasions Miss Vosloo – one of the three women who testified during the Jali Commission in Port Elizabeth – said Mr Khoza suggested taking her to a restaurant at the prison and later outside.
“When I refused all these invitations for dates, he suggested that we must go to Pretoria and tell everybody that we are going on a work-related trip,” she said.
This incident happened between August 1998 and November 1998. Miss Vosloo said she thought the kisses and hugs demanded by Mr Khoza were inappropriate and made her feel uncomfortable when he was around. Every time she entered his office to hand over documents to sign, Miss Vosloo said, Mr Khoza would say he “felt down and begged me for a kiss and a hug”.
She recalled an incident when Mr Khoza allegedly asked her in front of other staff members whether she “touched” men during sex therapy sessions. “I told them the conversation was disgusting and walked away.
“I felt very disgusted and uncomfortable,” she said.
Miss Vosloo is on suspension on charges relating to her giving an inmate a copy of his psychological profile report.
