THEY SPOKE UP. THE FINDINGS WERE SUBSTANTIATED. WHO WAS HELD ACCOUNTABLE?- Inside the Investigation into Allegations Against Greg Maloka

In this episode of Speaking Through My World, I examine the detailed findings of the independent investigation commissioned by Kaya FM into allegations against former Managing Director Greg Maloka.

Drawing directly from the investigation report, I unpack the testimonies of six women who came forward, the workplace culture they described, and the investigator's conclusions that allegations of sexual harassment involving at least six women, as well as professional discrimination against women who did not reciprocate sexual advances, were substantiated.

In the context of this investigation, “substantiated” means that the investigator concluded that the evidence gathered through interviews, witness statements and the investigation supported those allegations.

The episode asks a difficult but necessary question:

What does accountability look like when an independent investigation substantiates serious allegations, yet the person at the centre of those findings is later given a “homecoming” into the same corporate ecosystem?

This conversation is not only about one individual. It is about power, workplace culture, institutional accountability, and what believing women requires of us when the evidence has already been examined.

Special Note:

This episode examines the findings of an independent investigation commissioned by Kaya FM into allegations of sexual harassment, abuse of power and related workplace misconduct.

The discussion is based on the investigation report and publicly available information. It does not disclose confidential information shared with me privately by victims or survivors. Those conversations remain confidential and are not relied upon in this analysis.

Transcript

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Welcome to Speaking Through My World with Rosie Wetene, part of the Feminist Frontlines Initiative, where we use the microphone as a tool for justice. This is a space where my three passions of women, Africa, and the arts meet in conversation. Through storytelling, healing, reflections, and courageous dialogues, we amplify voices, preserve her story, and explore the issues that are shaping our lives, communities, and our continent. Thank you for listening. Let's speak through my world. In this episode, I want to speak about the reality and give proof and evidence of how rape culture is perpetuated throughout society, particularly in our entertainment industry. And the focus is on Kaya FM, a radio station in South Africa, around the findings on allegations against Greg Malocka, who used to be the head of the station and who is now subsequently returned. And these allegations that came up were of sexual harassment and other areas, which we will get into. And why I want to bring this to the attention is that as I give the backstory in a few minutes on what happened, bringing this person back to a station, to a place where some of the people who served under him still feel threatened, still feel unsafe, speaks to the reality of how rape culture is not about sensitivity. It's not about protecting those who are harmed. It celebrates the accused. It celebrates even the convicted. And why this is such an important topic to discuss and how I got involved is that I've never worked for CHI FM. I have been on the show as a guest. Where I came in with my own topics, filled in on a Friday, but I was never employed. Although I did apply, and there was intention behind that implying, because these allegations have been happening for a very long time, and many of us feminists and activists were made aware of them, provided support, counseling where we could to those who had suffered. I think it's important to note that this episode is not about bashing the station. It's just about highlighting the realities that are there. It's not about condemning or throwing judgment to those who still work there because we all need to earn a living. We all need to put food on our table and support our families. This is just about the facts. And this detailed uh report came about after an email that surfaced. And the title of the email was called Corruption at KFM, Delinquent Board. And myself and many other activists, uh commissioners from Human Rights Commission, Gender Equality Commission, uh, scholars were all CC'd into this email. And on the word attachment, stated all of these allegations, which then the board were obviously prompted to make it to do something. And an independent investigation was then made, and this is where the findings of these allegations. So it's not hearsay, it's not uh uh gossip that we found on social media or in the corridors. This is what an independent investigator found against the station and why he was ultimately dismissed. So bear with me. It is quite detailed, and with this this uh episode, I will talk about obviously give an overview of the allegation, what the key findings were. I will also just give uh brief inserts of what some of the uh people who laid the allegations, what they had to endure, and then obviously what the findings were at the end. I do have to state that this does come with a trigger warning. We are talking about issues of sexual harassment, of abuse, and it could be triggering, it could be harmful to some. If that is the case, this is not my intention. This episode is simply to relay the facts and to speak about the reality of what rape culture is, the reality of why so many people don't speak up, the reality of when you do speak up, nothing happens, or further harm or further blame is then put on those who dare to speak up. So the overview of the allegations: Exploitation and harassment of female staff in exchange for professional reward or advancement. All of the sexual harassment cases were reported to the Human Resources Department. There was, however, interferences when circumstances allowed. The key findings then reach. At least six female employees came forward to provide evidence of sexual harassment they experienced in the form of unwelcomed comments, hugs, kisses, massages, and ear whispers from Greg. In support of the allegations, evidence has been provided by way of interviews and written statements. So there we have the proof. It was agreed that the employees involved would be protected. Some of the employees have also indicated that they were willing to testify should a formal process be instituted against those accused. This then speaks to uh when people automatically dismiss and say people are lying. If somebody speaks out and they're willing to go through a trial or go through a formal process, knowing the emotional turmoil that comes with that, knowing the time that's invested, often money that's invested, would they do that if it's a lie? To go back to the document. The document states to protect the identity of the staff in question, the evidence presented has been paraphrased and certain identifying information removed, however, witness statements and recordings are available. The document also speaks about the company's sexual harassment policy and what it states. And it states, according to the company policy, is that sexual harassment is a form of unfair discrimination on the basis of sex and/or gender and/or sexual orientation, which is carried out by the repeated making of unwanted sexual advances or obscene remarks to a person, which actions infringe the rights or the right of the person and constitutes a barrier to equity in the workplace. Furthermore, and to contextualize, sexual harassment does not require repeated acts to be deemed as such, whether the act is deemed as sexual harassment is determined by the recipient of the act and not the intention of the perpetrator. Remember, the recipient of the act. Whilst the evidence provides, implicates more than one perpetrator of sexual harassment, that means it wasn't just him, but this this specific evidence is speaking to Greg itself. The document says, whilst the evidence provided implicates more than one perpetrator of sexual harassment, it is important to note that the majority of the evidence provided related to the various forms of sexual harassment perpetrated by Greg against a number of female staff members, either during their tenure at CHI FM or during their tenure as suppliers at CIFM, such as MediaMark. The allegations of sexual harassment commenced around 2008-2009. It further goes on to look at various surveys that were conducted and particularly a training session that happened on the 27th of February at KFM, and it was called the Sexual Harassment Training, had surveys run during each group to ascertain what people understood regarding sexual harassment. And the question was posed on the safety about working at that place. And it stated: Do you feel safe at CIFM offices and CA events from sexual harassment? The results of that were that 35% of the 81 respondents said that they did not feel safe. Unfortunately, the gender profile of the attendees was not revealed because I think that could also then speak to who didn't feel safe, right? The document also then speaks to Greg's note on the briefing note, which was titled Professional Discrimination of Female Staff. And it states that the authors are thinking on behalf of all female staff and therefore conclude that no one wants to come out due to fear of victimization. So there was a collective voice that came. Female staff have been encouraged to encourage at several formal gatherings to voice their opinion and bring these issues to the attention of my office or the chairman's office. So that was from Greg's note. Regarding the allegations in respect of sexual harassment, Greg notes the following in his briefing note. The authors proposed that sexual harassment cases were opened with HR against exco-members. He further stated that I am not aware of any sexual harassment lodged, matters lodged with HR against my excoteam. The only sexual harassment matters were the S ⁇ P manager versus the sales executive and the logistics coordinator versus the senior producer. He further stated that these matters were taken with the most utmost level of seriousness and resolved internally. These were presided over by an external independent chairperson. So I needed to bring that point in and as to why in the beginning, when I spoke about the fact that HR, the Human Resources Department, this independent investigator found that there were interferences when circumstances allowed. In my view, uh, I think that they were speaking to this issue. So now I'm going to go on to the evidence provided. And so this evidence, some of it has been paraphrased as per the document. But the full evidence was provided either in writing or in interviews on incidences that had occurred at CHIFM. And of course, we'll remain anonymous, keep the names anonymous, and so we will talk about person one, person two, person three, and so forth. But one thing to note is that all of these people and this evidence that I will share are all women. Person one stated, Reg's behavior is generally inappropriate and it messes with your mind. At first, you believe you're a special because you're receiving attention from the MD. Part of his grooming is the invitation for drinks in his office, which is seen as a social, which is seen as social capital in the organization, as it is not open to all. He would hug me and I would feel very uncomfortable to the point where I tried to gamify the greetings as as instead of hugs and say to him, no boss, um let's let's let's let's rather make it a fist bump Tuesday. So so basically trying to find excuses or run away from um and avoid of being being hugged by him. She further went on to say that this was to avoid getting hugged. Uh it is terrible that I would that I would daily have to negotiate working around the hug. Rec hugs people, and this is normalized behavior, um, even if you feel uncomfortable. So now you're going into work where you want to work, and you've got a job and you've got deliverables and you've got KPIs to meet. And then on top of that, you need to figure out strategies to avoid being touched by your MD. This person further went on to say that uh I realized that uh this was never about work. Until now, I did I did not realize how much this affected me. I'm here because I watched this happen to other younger staff members and it is not okay. A culture of improper sexual, implicit behavior is derived from the top. And while some relationships in the company are consensual, there are others that are a lot darker. This includes a board member who made an advance on the receptionists recently. Furthermore, the board chairperson, Mr. Mabana, was aware of the relationship between Brenda and Greg. Person number two, the Chi FM culture is one of enjoying champagne at 9 a.m. in the morning. I experienced this since engaging employment with Chi FM. Early on in my employment, I was invited to the Hyatt, which is a hotel in Johannesburg, by Greg to discuss my future at Chi FM. This was also a culture of Greg, having to hug everyone. He does his rounds when he's in the office. In 2017 slash 2018, Greg came around and hugged me, and this was followed by a kiss on my lips. This was in the presence of my line manager who protested to Greg that this was wrong. Following that, I requested that my manager help me avoid Greg. So here is another person who had to navigate and find other ways to avoid the MD whilst doing their job. Person number three. I was extremely uncomfortable with Greg to the point that I asked my manager to please stay around me if he was around. There was a cultural sexual affairs in the company, and with a number of women who did not like the attention or physical contact. In 2019, I was in the kitchen. Greg came to me and hugged me from behind. Men saw what was permissible and led from the top. There's also a lot of drinking of alcohol at the office, and during one of these occasions, one of the male staff members came up to me and kissed me. When I protested, it became aggressive. We work in a misogynistic environment. Person number four. When we started employment at CIFM, we went through induction. But the company representatives never spoke about sexual harassment, nor whether relationships between colleagues were allowed. It was expected that you should hug Greg, although it was not expected from everyone. This progressed to kissing and touching. This made me extremely uncomfortable. And other no others noticed and alleged I was his favorite. Two years ago, he used to massage my souls my shoulders for a few minutes. Last year, when gender-based violence was a topic was was topical, he massaged me again and I said, Tell me if this is okay. To which I said, behave yourself. Someone in Greg's position should know that what he is doing is wrong. People experience favoritism if they are in a relationship with him. Person number five. I started in 2015 and was very naive coming in. Two weeks after starting, I was invited by Greg with two other staff members to attend a science lecture. During the lecture, he put his hands on my shoulders, which made me feel very uncomfortable, and said to me, I knew you would like this. Post the lecture, there were drinks held, and Greg ordered us wine. He kept stroking my hands and touching me. Another incident happened in January 2016, where KFM had an off-site event themed as bikinis and bodies. The drinking of alcohol was out of hand and the party raucous. I started to feel unsafe and went to my room. At around 10:30 p.m., I went to my room and was I went to my room and was awakened by someone trying to access my room and screaming at me. I was very afraid and realized it was Greg trying to get access. I did not sleep that night. In 2019 at the CIFM offices, I was researching uh massages as my mom was suffering from intense migraines. Greg entered the office and saw what I was doing and asked me about it. I explained it was for my mom, to which he responded that massages are great and that we should go to the hotel to a hotel together and make a weekend of it. Person six. I'm a female who experienced sexual harassment by Greg during the period of 2008-2009. I worked for the advertising house responsible for the sales for CIFM. I was young at the time and filled a junior position. A colleague and I were invited at a Chi FM lunch, which was held off site, and it was a sleepover. My colleague and I shared a room. Greg requested that I come into his room where he proceeded to remove his jeans and started to kiss me. I left the room in shock and tried to find my colleague. As a young professional, I was afraid to come forward and did not press any charges. I was further afraid to tell my own supervisors as I worried whether I would compromise business with Kaya FM. I do realize that what Greg did was wrong and was using his power and influence psychologically to manipulate me. I also know and understand that at the time I did not understand what sexual harassment was. He was working with women at KFM and some at the representing sales house, usually involved in elements of unequal power and coercion but combined with charm. Mostly this would be through intimate hugs and ways of. Talking in your ear whilst his hand stayed on your waist for longer than professional appropriate. That is professionally appropriate. At Kaya FM, I've witnessed the power dynamic. The affairs are open secrets. And I think that if you really think about it, it is once again the unequal power dynamics as much as it is consensual. I'm more mature now and confident to voice my opinion. This is a disadvantage, though, as I've watched Greg disempower women who have turned him down. You will never achieve your professional potential because you have declined him. They further went on to speak about the gender-based violence session, the state of the nation address that was held in 2019. According to the party's providing testament, this session took place in the kitchen area at the Ky FM building. The women in the company were addressed by them by their male colleagues. At the session, Greg apologized on behalf of the men to the woman in the company. This was not well received by the woman providing testimony. And some of the statements that they provided included the following: a fast, inauthentic, insulting. Another statement said, accused number one doesn't apologize for himself. Psychologically mind-boggling. I've never seen anything like it except in the movies. Another statement went to say, I felt angry. Now he's undermining us. I was pissed. It was fake and a silencing project. We were never asked for our input. It was once again all about them. The reporting of the incidences, which I'm going to speak to briefly now, is um from the testimonies that were obviously heard during the interviews. And as this report states, it would seem that the incidences were not reported for the following reasons. So how do you report this? The board chairman and Greg are good friends. So how do you report Greg to? And this is something that I can also speak to of being involved in an organization where the chairperson is very good friends with the CEO and is well aware of the wrongs and doings in the organization, but nothing will be done because of their friendship. That proximity to power. Another testimony is Linda was there when all of this was happening, and she's dishonest and complicit in the behavior. Fear Greg is well known, and this will affect my career. This speaks to the issues of power. Going back to the issue of Linda, which I did not leave out deliberately because uh sexual harassment abuse is not just perpetuated by men, it's not just um um allowed and um it's also enabled by other women and non-conform and gender non-conforming people. Another person said, I did report it and it got back to Greg. Uh HR never felt like a safe space to speak in. Uh going back to what I mentioned earlier on about that other organization which didn't have an HR department and still doesn't. Uh, but the person who handles HR is also very good friends with with the CEO. So any wrongdoings that happen will just be circulated with that, and not no uh accountability is taken. And in this case, the same the same issue. Then there was a production meeting which which took place after that document, um, which I spoke about at the beginning of this episode, titled Corruption at KFM Delinquent Board. So this document started, was circulated on the 1st of August 2020 through WhatsApp and through a word attachment. Then it came about um and it was discussed in a meeting on the Monday, and it was at the at a stand-in product meeting which was held. And Linda and Greg then addressed these allegations to the team. And according to staff in attendance at the meeting, who provided evidence, Greg then um addressed the team, saying that he felt very angry and stated that uh this is the 21st century and the author of the allegations can be easily traced. So, therefore, going back to rape culture is that once you are identified, once you face these crimes, what does the perpetrator do? Uses their power to intimidate, to threaten. This report further states that uh Greg and Linda did not deny that the incidents had occurred. The same has provided fertile ground for the distrust of the process. And the employees who have come forward refer to this meeting as a threat to not come forward. So the threat was laid, it was understood, people understood what was happening. Greg admitted that he was angry when he addressed the meeting and furthermore acknowledges to the staff to have written these allegations, acknowledges that the staff member who had written these allegations was present in the meeting. This document then states that the staff member in question should have been protected from the behavior of the senior staff. We should have known better, as it creates occupation detriment, as per the guidelines of the Protective Disclosure Act. Further internal investigations were then made, and it was noted that a person by the name of Nizam Ajuhar sought to identify the author of the whistleblowing allegations. And through the interview with Linda and others, we learned that Nizam had looked through the properties of the Word document and had identified the author of the allegations. This was, of course, uh according to Linda, who then relayed this message to the rest of the staff. The identified author was named Trinitia, who then resigned at the end of July 2020 and was serving notice period of 30 days. The employer reports directly to Nizam and Human Resources, who is Becky Kumalo, was later told to put the employee on garden leave. That is not to serve their notice on the company's premises. The reason behind this was that the employee had access to sensitive KFM information. So once again, speaking to the issue of power on how you orchestrating certain maneuvers, but also going against company acts, going against policies that are already in place. And so, furthermore, it was also noticed, noted that the employees concerned had received WhatsApp messages from Brenda on the 4th of August 2020, which was sent at uh 7 p.m. that night, stating the following. The tracking of this document confirms that you authored and circulated the document. I'm not a letitious person, but I have had have had to fight against myself for the last two days around how to proceed. I have one question to help me determine my next steps. Why? The employee rightfully states that she felt very, very afraid for her safety. An interview was then held on the 3rd of September in 2020 with Nizam for him to provide his version of the events. Nizam stated that he did check the properties of the document to establish who wrote it and subsequently notified Greg via telephone. He further instructed Greg on how to find the author. Nizam noted that a friend in Cape Town later picked up a co-author on the document, another employee at KFM. Nizam admits that part of the reason the employee was requested not to fulfill notice was because of suspicion of her being the author. When asked, Nizam said that he's not aware of any legal breach, namely the Protective Disclosure Amendment Act of 2017, and that the occupational detriment created by investigating and revealing the identity of the author, nor that the consequences thereof have exposed the employee to harassment as well as the perception among staff that she had been dismissed for writing the allegations. Nizam was questioned on why Brenda still had access to her email. He responded that Greg had instructed the same upon review of the company policy, which is called Policy 022, PC Internet and Email Usage Policy. It is noted that the policy is silent on the close of access to the network and email after an employee leaves the employment of Kyofm. Further examination also reveals another company name on the policy, on the policy, namely JM Attorneys. As follows, policy pertaining to JM Attorneys legal obligation to disclose. Nizam has questioned whether this policy was plagiarized or whether permission was requested from the attorney firm to use this policy. The response was that only some of the policy was extracted. In conclusion, the document then states: our conclusion is that the conduct of Greg in relation to sexual harassment is in contravention with section 6.1 of the Employment Act to Act 55 of 1998. The conduct of Greg as MD has exposed CIFM to risk of litigation and reputational damage. The document goes on to speak on a case between PE and Equazi Municipality and others 2016, where the court had found Equazi Municipality placed the perpetrator in a position where he was able to act the way he did. Therefore, the employment relations facilitated his actions. So this was, I suppose, put into the document to substantiate the risk of keeping him on board. The allegation of professional discrimination against female staff who did not reciprocate sexual advances is substantiated. I will read that again. The allegation of professional discrimination against female staff who did not reciprocate sexual advances is substantiated. The allegation that at least six female staff experienced sexual harassment is substantiated. So there you have it. These were the findings of an external investigation into what happened. Six women spoke up. The investigator found these allegations substantiated. It is written. They provided proof. There's clear evidence of how power was used to silence these women. How fear was instilled, how careers were dismantled. This is proof of what rape culture is. This is proof of why so many fear going into work. This is proof as to how rape culture is normalized and how it lives freely within our society, proximity to power, fear, intimidation, lack of accountability, promoting the boys' club. So next time when somebody speaks up or doesn't or speaks up later, or you find that their life unravels and they struggle to work effectively after incidents or after crimes of abuse or levels of abuse. Think about why it's so difficult to speak up. Because here you have the proof.