“Facebook’s contractor forced me to work alongside my rapist”

This story was contributed to TechCabal by Mukanzi Musanga and first appeared in Open Democracy

Facebook’s former content material moderation agency has been accused of defending an worker who allegedly raped two colleagues and sacking one in all his victims to defend the corporate’s fame. Two former workers in Sama’s Kenyan workplace have advised openDemocracy that managers fostered an unsafe work atmosphere by ignoring or minimising their allegations of rape in opposition to one in all their colleagues.

The allegations, which have been reported to the police however aren’t a part of any ongoing authorized challenges, are the newest made in opposition to Sama by its former African workers. The US-based tech agency is being sued – together with Meta, which owns Facebook – in Nairobi for illegal redundancy and blacklisting after shedding all 260 of its content material moderators in Kenya in March, having ended its contract with Facebook. 

Hope Mandi, one of many girls alleging rape, moved from South Africa to Nairobi in May 2021 after touchdown a job at Sama. In the identical month, Mandi moved into an condominium complicated on the Imara Daima property. She says that weeks later, she was raped by a colleague who lived close by and had come to her condominium in what appeared to be a pleasant go to. Mandi stated they have been chatting when he first tried to kiss her after which raped her after she requested him to cease. 

Mandi stated that after the person left: “My immediate thought was to report him to Sama. The first person I confided in was a colleague, who informed the management of the assault.” She was taken to a hospital chosen by Sama’s in-house counselor. Once there, the counselor dealt with all of the paperwork. Mandi claims Sama was attempting to management all the pieces and hold a lid on the rape. 

Having solely just lately moved to Kenya, Mandi assumed Sama would help her in submitting a neighborhood police report. But she says a senior supervisor as an alternative advised her not to contain police. “Afterwards, there was no further action from the company. They went quiet except for the calls from the counselor, who repeatedly tried to persuade me to forgive him,” she stated. 

In one occasion, Mandi advised openDemocracy, she was on the telephone with the counselor when, with out warning, they added her alleged rapist to the decision in order that he may apologise – regardless of her having already refused to meet with him face-to-face. Mandi additionally feels she was compelled to suppress her emotional misery at work and proceed to sift by Facebook content material “where people were being sexually violated”, whereas her personal assailant sat a brief distance away.

“He attacked and raped me but faced no consequences despite me reporting him to Sama,” she stated.  Sama’s world service supply vice-president, Annepeace Alwala, advised openDemocracy that the organisation gives “a safe and respectful environment” for workers and treats all allegations of misconduct severely. Alwala alleges that Mandi withdrew the sexual assault criticism that she initially supplied. 

“We can state that in this first instance, which took place outside of work, the only witness recanted their statement, and therefore we had no way to action any allegations of wrongdoing.” Mandi refutes this, claiming she by no means withdrew her assertion. “That is such a lie,” she stated. 

A second assault 

Another former Sama worker advised openDemocracy that, simply over a 12 months after Mandi’s alleged assault, she was assaulted by the identical man. Zani Mazwai additionally labored in Sama’s Kenya workplace and moved into Mandi’s condominium constructing in August 2022. Just after 4 a.m. on 11 September, Mazwai was awoken by a name from the person, who nonetheless lived close by. 

The man stated he wanted Mazwai’s assist and got here to her door. Although half asleep, she was involved about him and let him in. She says he pounced on her and raped her, then fled. “I was in so much shock that I couldn’t process what had just happened,” stated Mazwai. “I was able to call Mandi, who immediately came over and took me to her apartment.” 

Mandi took Mazwai, who was “crying and distraught”, to the hospital for a medical examination. Mazwai says officers at Sama wished to deal with the alleged assault internally by a disciplinary listening to for the colleague she stated attacked her. She claims they advised her she’d want to be in the identical room as him to “give an account of what happened.” 

“I felt uncomfortable about this, so I decided to file a police report instead. I also told my whole family about it,” she stated. “The senior officials were not happy that I filed charges because they wanted to handle it internally.”

Mandi then revealed to Mazwai that the person had raped her too, and likewise recorded a proper assertion with the police. Two months later, in November, Mandi stated she was falsely accused of “coming to work drunk and unable to walk or talk.” She was fired the next month and given a severance fee of fifty,000 Kenyan shillings ($350) earlier this 12 months. 

“That was less than a month’s salary,” she stated. “I was so angry about everything at that time so I didn’t dispute it. I didn’t want anything to do with Sama.” When requested about this, Alwala from Sama declined to reply, citing a necessity to defend “employees’ privacy and confidentiality”. Mandi believes Sama removed her to defend their picture. 

“Firing me was an attempt to cover up the fact that they had sheltered a serial rapist, who had previously assaulted me, then done the same to another moderator. This looked bad for them,” she stated. Meanwhile, Mazwai was given a while off work after her assault however was quickly requested to return, and her request to work from dwelling declined. In March, she was among the many 260 content material moderators let go by Sama and is now a celebration to the lawsuit alleging illegal redundancy and blacklisting. 

Alwala said that the corporate suspended and sacked the alleged assailant after changing into conscious of Mazwai’s police report. 

Getting justice 

After Mazwai filed a police report, an arrest warrant was issued for the ladies’s alleged attacker. He fled to Uganda. But he additionally known as Mazwai to demand she drop the fees. “He said I was ruining his life. I felt scared because I don’t know what more he is capable of,” Mazwai stated. She says the rape has made her petrified of leaving dwelling throughout the day. 

After talking to different former Sama colleagues, openDemocracy has established that the person is again in Nairobi – however the police declare they’re unable to make an arrest except Mazwai accompanies them. The head of Imara Daima’s Villa Police Station, James Mose, stated it is because they have no idea what he appears to be like like and he or she has not been ready to present a photograph. 

“We want the lady to identify the guy at the arrest but she has declined the request to accompany us, saying that she is scared. She can even disguise herself by wearing a mask to cover her face,” Mose advised openDemocracy. 

Mazwai stated she would somewhat make an identification as soon as her attacker is in police custody. “I don’t want to be near that man. My life is no longer the same because of him. Sadly, the system is letting him live out here and who knows how many other women he hurts,” she defined. 

A police chief at one other station in Kenya, talking on the situation of anonymity, advised openDemocracy that the regulation doesn’t compel rape victims to be current on the arrest of their assailants, partially for their very own security. 

“What is important is for the victim to give a description of the assailant. If the person is known – his full name and his place of work, if he is in active employment – then it shouldn’t be difficult for the police to proceed with an arrest,” he stated. 

openDemocracy was ready to decide the person’s new place of work from talking with former and present colleagues and handed this info on to the police. Mose later stated that though officers had visited the realm, they’d been unable to discover his workplace. 

Mandi, who’s now again dwelling in Durban, South Africa, stated the apathy each girls have obtained from the police and the tech firm has adversely affected her psychological well being {and professional} future. 

“Sama should not get away with the negligence with which they handled the assaults. They forced me to work with an abuser, who insisted on interacting with me,” she stated. “They did nothing to protect me from him. They didn’t even follow up to make sure I got appropriate counselling.” 

Mandi added: “When I was in Nairobi, I was planning on my two children joining me from South Africa. I was even looking at schools for them, but all these dreams just vanished.”