A former director at Grant Thornton South Africa has spoken out about alleged sexual harassment and victimisation at the company.
Nerisha Singh, the former Director for Risk Advisory in the Forensic Division at Grant Thornton South Africa, has put the issue of sexual harassment in Corporate South Africa in the spotlight. Speaking on the Eusebius Mckaiser show on Talk Radio 702 on Tuesday, she said she had been sexually harassed and victimised by the company.
She alleged that the company’s head of forensics made suggestive comments, touched her inappropriately, and bought her an expensive necklace. She also said she lived in constant fear of his retribution after she rejected his advances. Furthermore, she claimed that one of her colleagues had experienced the same abuse and that the executive leadership was aware of the problem. Even though the alleged perpetrator had resigned from the company following a disciplinary hearing, Nerisha said her she had been left humiliated and traumatised after her employment was later terminated.
The interview caused a stir on social media, prompting widespread condemnation of the perceived culture of sexual of sexual harassment in South African workplaces.
Grant Thornton has since released a statement confirming that the alleged offender still works at the company but explains that it had taken all the steps necessary to deal with the matter.
In the statement, Grant Thornton Deputy CEO Gillian Saunders says that Nerisha had been offered letter of permanent employment but it had since been retracted because of the negative comments she made about the company in the interview.
It reads: “We refer to the offer of employment on the 6th of March. At the time we believed that […] it will repair the relationship. While we respect your right to […] you have elected to make negative statements about the firm and its employees […] your conduct potentially causes harm. The offer of employment will be retracted,”
