When Sipho met Lesedi that Thursday night, she was in tears. She wouldn’t even let Sipho touch her until he had told her the whole story. When he said he was making a sexual harassment case against Mrs Seretsi, Lesedi cried even more.
Sipho had gone back to Mrs Karabo that afternoon, and they’d had a private meeting again in the conference room. Mrs Karabo had said, “Whatever Rebecca Seretsi has sent to your girlfriend, we’ll want to use in our case against her, those photos, for example. While she may think she’s upsetting your girlfriend, she’s strengthening our case.”
Lesedi felt so injured by all of it. When did this happen? Why wasn’t she told? She was angry that she’d been left in the dark. But, as Sipho explained, she began to understand, bit by bit, that this was serious. His job was at risk, and he himself felt sickened by the whole thing.
Sipho tried to answer why he hadn’t told her. As he thought about it, he realised that there were several reasons.
“Lesedi, partly, I wanted to protect you from the whole nasty business. And partly I just felt inexperienced dealing with the situation myself: sexually abused by a woman boss at work! I simply did not know how to explain how I was entrapped. I really don’t want to lose my job. And it’s pride… I did not want to seem weak and manipulated. But please believe me…I also did not want to lose you Lesedi.”
He explained that the person he felt was most qualified to untangle this mess was Mrs Karabo. She was quiet and patient and she wanted to help him. She’d also seen Rebecca Seretsi get away with abusing her power for too long. Sipho persuaded Lesedi to trust her advice.
Once Lesedi understood all this, she willingly went with Sipho to an internet café where they printed the message from Rebecca Seretsi’s Facebook account, along with the pictures of him. The message she had sent Lesedi read:
Your boyfriend got frisky with me at the mall, and he posed for me.
Seeing it, Sipho held back a curse, and thanked Lesedi for trusting him. He assured her: “This is soon going to be over. We are going to beat that wicked woman.”
“I still feel hurt that you did not confide in me Sipho. But okay, I’ll not meet her, ever, and I’ll unfriend her on Facebook,” promised Lesedi, allowing Sipho to hug her.
The next day at work, Sipho took the evidence to Mrs Karabo and together they went to HR and added it to the case they were making against Mrs Seretsi.
Around lunchtime, Mrs Seretsi called Sipho into her office. “Sit down,” she demanded.
“I’m fine standing,” announced Sipho and looked ahead of him, making sure she didn’t close the door.
“You’ll want to sit down for this; it’s bad news.”
“I’ll stand,” said Sipho firmly.
“Oh, stop playing games. You’re fired. I have no more use for you.”
“I’m a junior sales person, not your assistant,” said Sipho. “You can’t just fire me.” Sipho turned on his heel. He walked straight out of her office and down to the HR Department and reported the incident. The woman in HR added it into the file of complaints.
“Mrs Seretsi’s notification of a disciplinary hearing was handed to her this morning,” she told him. “It’s scheduled for a week from today so she’ll have a chance to defend herself. You’ll be called as a witness. Just be patient until then. And Mr Molope, if anyone is in danger of being fired, it’s her,” the HR manager said, smiling.
* * * * *
Justice took its course, and hearts were lighter when the year-end function came. Everybody was glamorous, and Sipho was happy to bring his trusting girlfriend with him to this classy event.
Lesedi looked as beautiful as her name, which means ‘light’. She was indeed lit up with excitement, in her flowing gold dress, and beamed like a princess when Sipho introduced her to his colleagues from the office. He was especially proud to introduce her to Mrs Karabo.
As they sat down for dinner, Sipho, Lesedi and Mrs Karabo couldn’t help but notice the empty chair where Mrs Seretsi would have sat.
The End
* * *
Tell us what you think: What do you think will happen in the lives of: Mrs Seretsi, Sipho and Lesedi in the future?
