WE HAD SEX IN OFFICE – LECTURER

MBABANE – The University of Eswatini (UNESWA) lecturer who was arrested for alleged rape has admitted to having sex in his office with the student who is a complainant in the matter.

Francis Makamba (42) from Zimbabwe made the confession in his bail application filed by his lawyer Thabiso Fakudze at the High Court yesterday.
Makamba, who is currently on suspension, stands accused of violating Section 3(1) (2) (3) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act in that he allegedly had unlawful sexual intercourse with the 21-year-old student whose name will not be revealed for ethical reasons.

“My defence to the charge is that I had consensual sexual intercourse with the complainant in a place surrounded by a hive of activity and heavy foot traffic flow in broad daylight,” submitted the lecturer.

He further informed the court that he was in a relationship with the complainant. “The complainant would now and then pass by my office and kiss me on the forehead, cheek and lips,” alleged Makamba.

According to Makamba, on March 21, 2019, the complainant came to his office at around mid day saying she wanted to talk to him. He asserted that as he was busy at that moment, the complainant left and asked that he called her when he was free.  The accused claimed that at around 3pm he called the complainant and told her that she could come and she responded by saying ‘ok’.

recordings

“Fortunately, I have an application on my cell that records all calls made and received and I have the recordings of this call and other calls made prior.  The telephone call was short and it shows that we had made a prior arrangement to meet and moreover, the words of people in a relationship were used and no one objected to their usage,” submitted the lecturer.

Makamba narrated that when the complainant came to his office, she said she wanted to give him a ‘proper’ kiss and she asked him to lock the door. “She came straight to me and kissed me. We started kissing and touching each other and one thing led to another. I first objected to the continuity of what we were doing and stated that it was improper as we were in the office. She did not hear anything as she went on to voluntarily remove her clothes,” alleged Makamba
Makamba continued to say: “She was wearing a tight grey track suit bottom and to be precise she removed one leg of the track (the right one) (sic).”

He said while they were in the act of having passionate sexual intercourse, the complainant received a call from her mother who was on her way to see her.
According to the lecturer, the complainant told her mother that she was busy and she would call her back later and they continued with their act. “Thereafter we cleaned ourselves, had a little chat and she then asked for money to buy morning after pills. I gave her E200. Morning after pills, also known as Plan B, are used to prevent pregnancy on a person who has had unprotected sex.

pills

Makamba claimed that after giving the complainant the money to buy the pills, she then demanded E1 000, with which she said she would do her hair.
“I informed her that E1 000 was a bit too much for just doing hair but nonetheless I promised to give her the following day. She said she would collect the money the following day being March 22, 2019 only for her to arrive with two police officers,” submitted Makamba.

“My biggest surprise is that she initiated the whole sex thing only for her to later lay a rape charge against me. I merely responded to her sexual request,” contended Makamba.

He told the court that; “There were people around at that time and probably there were people in the other offices as well.  The complainant did not scream or cry out for help and instead she controlled her voice in order not to be heard by the people outside.”

Before moving an application for bail at the High Court, Makamba first made a brief appearance before Magistrate Mthokozisi Dlamini at the Matsapha Circuit Court.  The magistrate informed him that the charge he was facing was very serious hence he should appear before a principal magistrate.  He then advised him that in the event he desired to be admitted to bail, the police officers would assist him.

Last Wednesday, the lecturer found himself without a place to work from after angry students locked his office. The livid University of Eswatini (UNESWA), Kwaluseni Campus students used their own padlock to lock his office. The students, who unceremoniously suspended classes on Wednesday, started the protest action against Makamba and another lecturer who is in the same predicament by doing vusela exercises around the campus, which was a strategy to alert their colleagues that there would no classes.
As they marched around the campus corridors, singing and dancing to political songs and slogans, the number of participants increased. This vusela exercise was carried out until around 9:30am when the president of the student representative council (SRC), Sakhile Ndzimandze arrived from the Mbabane Campus. He then took over the reins as he was the one who gave direction to the protesting students. However, when he arrived, he found that the enraged students had resolved to lock the office of the expatriate lecturer.

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