“Don’t Allow the Abuse”: A Former Manager’s Stark Warning to Ekurhuleni’s Women

A commission investigating corruption and misconduct within the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) this week heard testimony that points to a toxic culture far beyond financial malfeasance. It heard allegations of a different currency being demanded for career advancement: sexual favors.

Taking the stand, former Ekurhuleni municipal manager Imogen Mashazi described creating a specific programme during her tenure aimed at empowering and promoting women. Her motivation, she stated, was a direct response to the whispers and reports she had received about a predatory environment.

“I encouraged women not to allow men to sexually abuse them,” Mashazi told the commission, framing her initiative as a form of institutional shield for female officers.

The Allegation: Abuse as a Gatekeeper to Promotion

Mashazi’s testimony took a sharp, accusatory turn. She named suspended EMPD Chief Jabulani Mapiyeye as a central figure in this alleged system of exploitation, claiming he sexually abused junior female staff members as a precondition for promoting them to higher ranks.

The allegation paints a grim picture of a workplace where power was not just misused, but weaponized in the most intimate and violating way. It suggests a scenario where merit was sidelined by coercion, trapping women in an impossible choice between their dignity and their careers.

A Tangled Web of Suspensions and Alleged Protection

The commission, chaired by Justice Mabel Madlanga, is tasked with untangling a complex web of alleged corruption within the EMPD. Mashazi herself is under scrutiny for allegedly protecting another suspended senior officer, Julius Mkhwanazi.

Mkhwanazi is linked to a controversial memorandum of agreement with a security company owned by alleged drug cartel figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala. The deal reportedly allowed Matlala’s vehicles to be fitted with illegal blue lights and carried letters granting them immunity from police roadblocks.

Mashazi is accused of lifting Mkhwanazi’s suspension in 2023 while he faced disciplinary hearings related to this agreement.

A Culture in the Dock

While the commission continues to dissect the specifics of the blue-light scandal, Mashazi’s allegations have shifted the spotlight onto a deeper, more insidious cultural sickness. Her claim is not just about individual predators, but about an environment where such abuse was rumored to be a known pathway to promotion.

For the women in the EMPD, and for the public they serve, the testimony raises urgent questions. How systemic was this alleged abuse? How many complaints were silenced or ignored? And if such a “programme” was necessary to encourage women to speak up, what does that say about the existing channels for reporting?

The Madlanga Commission continues, now burdened with investigating not only breaches of law but also a profound breach of trust within a critical law enforcement agency. The gavel falls not just on acts of corruption, but on the very culture that may have allowed them to fester.

{Source: Timeslive}

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