Look, if it's not yours, don't dare touch!

Over the past two weeks, my thoughts have been preoccupied with the sexual harassment and victimisation claims levelled against Professor Malekgapuru Makgoba(vice chancellor of UKZN) and Dr Vincent Mapahai (UKZN council chair). The claims are made by a colleague of theirs, Pumela Msweli-Mbanga (former dean of the Faculty of Management Studies).

What has become a trend is that in cases where high profile individuals would be accused of sexual harassment, there it always seems to be an opportune time against them, so it would seem as if the sexual harassment claims are purposefully intended to discredit them.

For ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe (charismatic but shady, I think), he cited the fact that it was a deliberate attempt to lambast his character ahead of some ANC provincial conference. In the case of Jacob Zuma, he cited the fact that it was a political conspiracy.

Professor Makgoba and Dr Maphai are extraordinary academics whose work has certainly contributed positively to our country. Both are actually rank high in my list of favorite academics in South Africa. Msweli-Mbanga is an accomplished academic as well. I do not know much about her to be honest though.

Makgoba says Msweli-Mbanga awarded a masters degree to a colleague, Professor Kanthan Pillay. who did not deserve it. The masters degree has since been nullified by the university council.

All egos considered, Why would such respectable men in the face of the public connive to sexually abuse, victimise and frustate Mseli-Mbanga? On the flip-side of the coin, why would Mseli-Mbanga falsely accuse Makgoba and Maphai? For me this particular case is a difficult one, and whichever way this case goes (currently under investigation), I would still be torn apart by the outcome.

Even though both Makgoba and Mapahi have stepped down from their positions while investigations take course, I would be utterly disgusted should the claims against them be true. They would be perpetuating the sick mentality that men in positions of power can solicit sexual favours from their subordinates. Basically thinking with their testicles.

Equally disturbing would be if Mseli-Mbanga's claims are manufactured. She would also be riding of the wave of women, who use sexual harrassment claims against their superiors, in an attempt to destroy their images, thereby using their vaginas as a source of power (the Iwe-we mentality), effectively undermining the fight against women abuse.

All-in-all, I think men and women in all levels of society should be extra careful with respect to how they relate to each other in the workplace.

16 Days of Activism!

Mango Mango Business - Going Bananas

The introduction of low cost airlines has really brought some form of excitement to the airline business. Mango, an SAA subsidiary is a new player in the business. Other low cost carriers include Kulula.com and 1Time, so Mango airline competes directly with those, and to some extend Nationwide airlines. The introduction and price competition amongst this airlines has obvious spin-offs for customers. Flying is much cheaper and therefore more accessible than a few years ago.

Last week Thursday, I had my first Mango flying experience(Cape Town to Jozi to attend a friend's wedding). I had attempted to book a few weeks earlier in an attempt to get an cheaper ticket. As most would know, their website was not functional due to high traffic volumes. An excuse that I am not buying as I think given the strategic time of their launch (Obctober 2006), they should have expected that or should have fixed that swiftly. I somehow excused them, and finally managed to book, I chose to pay using a bank deposit as I was not willing to use my credit card on a site that was unstable.

Anyways, flying to Joburg was a typical flying experience, even though I had to pay for beers(R12 an Amstel) on the flight and obviously did not get to Joburg as tipsy as I typically prefer as drinks were not for free. I had anticipated that cost though, so was not complaining.

Flying back was another one. My flight was scheduled to leave Jozi to Cape Town at 20h30, so by 20h10, I had checked in and all. Came 20h30, 20h45, 21h00 the baording gates had still not open. Generally patient myself, I began to feel a bit agitated. So I asked the gentleman at the boarding gate what was going on and he admitted he was not very sure. I went to the News Cafe(close to the boarding gate), had a double shot of whiskey and chilled a bit.

Come 21h15, we are told the plane had just arrived so we would be boarding soon, by the same gentleman at the boarding gate. We could see the Mango staff running up-and-down. 10 mins later, we are told that there will be another delay as the Cape Town cabin crew went into the wrong plane (the one to Durban). At that point, I thought how unproffessional. More so, it was not communicated to us why we had to wait for more than an hour to board.

Low cost carriers are cool when one is on holiday and/or in no immediate rush, where waiting for an hour will be an irritation but not a massive inconvenience. Also inform the people who are picking you up to expect such unexpected delays. If you are flying for business purposes or going for an interview for example and time is critical to the tee, take SAA or Nationwide. Low cost carriers boast about being on time (78% in the case of Kulula), so that sends the message that they are not always timeous.

Mango Airlines flies to Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town using Boeing 737-800s leased from SAA. The cheapest flight is claimed to be R169 and the most expensive just under R1000.

Solidarity.