×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

Second woman claims sports boss raped her – Jennifer Ferguson

Jennifer Ferguson. Photo: ANTONIO MUCHAVE.
Jennifer Ferguson. Photo: ANTONIO MUCHAVE.

Jennifer Ferguson‚ who joined thousands of women from across the globe in disclosing their abuse as part of the social media #MeToo campaign‚ says another woman has reached out to her‚ saying she too had been raped by the same man who raped her.

“Just yesterday I got a message from somebody who experienced the same thing with him.

“I don’t know if she will be ready to disclose … a relative of somebody in a very high position. It’s a big step to step out.”

Speaking via Skype from her home in Sweden this morning it is clear that Jennifer Ferguson’s decision to share her alleged rape at the hands of the well-known sports administrator has both liberated and exhausted her.

“There is something in South Africa where the wounded male psyche is expressing itself violently.”

Top sports administrator raped me‚ claims singer‚ ex-MP Jennifer Ferguson 

She speaks strongly but her eyes show a deep sense of sadness – for herself‚ women and her home country South Africa.

South Africa‚ she says‚ has a long and disturbing history of rape and abuse stretching as far back as colonialism.“The history of abuse is appalling. We’ve had a scourge of rape and child abuse since our colonial landings.”

“Urgent reflection has to be undertaken. For me personally to disclose has been not only my healing… I feel I am part of a much bigger collective need for truth in order to heal and forgive‚” she says.

Despite repeated requests for comment the famous sports administrator has not yet made a statement on the allegations.

Ferguson took to social media yesterday writing a heartrending account of her rape at the Holiday Inn on the Port Elizabeth beachfront.

Almost 24 years ago‚ she wrote‚ the “pleasant and entertaining” man asked her to join him for a drink after a performance she had given at the hotel.

“I accepted his invitation to join him for a drink at the bar‚ but said I needed to go up to my suite and change from my performance dress.

“He joined me in the lift and said he would wait for me. I felt a little uneasy as he entered my suite‚ but I beckoned him into the lounge and asked him to wait there while I changed.”

Ferguson alleges that she entered the bedroom‚ closed the door and began to change when the man entered and overpowered her.

She wrote: “He overpowered me and painfully raped me.”

“It must have been over in about 20 seconds although it felt like a lifetime. He left immediately without saying a word.”

Those memories‚ she says‚ have led to a sense of alienation of her own sexuality‚ something she attributes to delayed post-traumatic stress.

“It’s like a tumour‚ imbalance of the mind‚ something you have hidden but it doesn’t go away.”