Citizen News Online
Thursday, December 07, 2006
POLOKWANE - So-called "sex pest" Norman Mashabane has resigned from his post as political adviser to Limpopo premier Sello Moloto with immediate effect.
Moloto made the announcement on Wednesday, saying Mashabane has asked to be relieved of his duties.
"He has asked to be relieved of his duties to focus on the problems he is currently experiencing," said Mogale Nchabeleng, the premier's spokesman.
Mashabane was guilty of sexual harassment, the Pretoria High Court found on Friday.
The incidents took place when he was South Africa's ambassador to Indonesia.
Several complaints of sexual harassment was laid against Mashabane.
He was found guilty at an initial hearing in 2001 on a battery of charges that included stroking the buttocks of an employee, molesting a staff member in a lift and making suggestive motions with his tongue to another.
The panel recommended he be fired, but he appealed the judgement and was allowed to continue in his post pending the outcome.
In June 2003 another charge was laid against him, and he was again found guilty.
The findings were reversed by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, acting as the appeal authority, who suggested that Mashabane was being dragged through the mud for exposing motor vehicle fraud at the embassy.
The Pretoria high court overturned her decision confirming his guilty verdict and dismissal.
He started working as the premier's political advisor in November but resigned after the court's guilty verdict. - Sapa.