Simataa breaks silence on controversial harassment accusations

Secretary to Cabinet George Simataa has broken his silence about a barrage of sexual harassment accusations.

He claims the accusations stemmed from individuals who disliked his position as permanent secretary at the Ministry of Works and Transport.

Simataa, in his recently published memoir, titled ‘Timeless: My Career in the Public Service’, says he clashed with an undersecretary who failed the interview Simataa passed at the ministry.

“The undersecretary . . . had declared himself my competitor and enemy, and he also did not make my life any easier. He and his cronies were hard at work,” Simataa says.

Simataa writes that an anonymous letter dated March 2011, was posted at the Okahandja Post Office addressed to former minister Helmut Angula.

“The letter was apparently authored by 33 women in the Ministry of Works and Transport, alleging that since my appointment as permanent secretary, they had been subjected to sexual harassment by me. They claimed that I made sexual advances on them each time they brought files to my office,” Simataa says.

The letter, according to Simataa, also informed the minister that he had made sexual advances on his secretary.

“They demanded that I be removed from my position as permanent secretary and be posted to diplomatic missions,” he states.

AN INSIDE JOB

Simataa adds that a proposal was made in the letter suggesting that the ministry office designs be made of glass, so that his movements could be monitored.

The letter was copied to all under- secretaries at the ministry at that time, he recalls.

“This was a very unfortunate and sad situation for me. I did not know that the enemy could stoop so low,” Simataa says.

He says Angula called him in and let him read the letter.

“The fact of the matter was that all five people who reported to me directly, one deputy permanent secretary and four undersecretaries, were male,” Simataa says.

Simataa writes that the individuals in question gained direct access to his office after arranging appointments through his secretary.

According to public procedure guidelines, any files delivered to the office of a senior official are not handed directly to that person, but received by their private secretary.

“The private secretary would re- cord the documents concerned and bring them to the attention of the manager concerned. This procedure also applied to my office. Besides, my secretary, Melani, was known to be protective of me in the ministry,” Simataa says.

He recalls that CCTV footage spanning several months was used as evidence to prove his innocence.

“Our offices were monitored by CCTV cameras on a 24-hour basis, and there was no evidence on the videotapes to confirm the claims made in the letter. They had been mere fictitious creations by jealous people with nothing better to do with their time,” Simataa says.

He also says in the interest of justice, Angula independently verified and reviewed the facts mentioned.

Simataa mentions that Angula had experts analyse the handwriting on the envelope and determine that the act was carried out internally by a rival who had been defeated.

I NEVER FEARED MINISTERS

Simataa says during his tenure as permanent secretary, he understood his task as that of advising the minister and recording instances where his advice was rejected.

He says he implemented ministerial decisions as long as they were put in writing.

“I had regard for and respected the ministers I always served under, but never feared them. I took this approach because I realised that in the most de- sirable, but sometimes uncomfortable, form of governance called democracy, ministers are elected parliamentarians representing the Namibian people, and the Cabinet is a concentrated decision- making body of the majority, which I was not,” he says.

However, he records that of all ministries, it was at works and transport where he was the lonliest.

He recounts that it was during this time that his name was carried in newspaper headlines on account of “unfounded accusations”.

I WANTED TO MEET GOD FACE TO FACE

“There came a time when I wanted to meet with God face to face so that I could ask him what wrong I did to deserve such a level of humiliation in society. It felt like God had thrown me into this waiting room, locked the door and taken the keys with him,” Simataa writes.