Hilary Muza 
THE recently decided case of Mbatha v Zizhou & Anor HH 675/21 is what some would refer to as a Rubicon moment. It presents a new frontier for the protection of employees’ rights within the workplace, particularly as it pertains to sexual harassment.
A common misconception is that sexual harassment has to have taken place over a long period of time for it to have any meaning or import. This is not true.
The plaintiff in the Mbatha case was employed between September 2002 and July 2003. All it takes for a sexual harassment issue to arise is a single incident. The harassment complained of was that of inappropriate touching, unwelcome offensive jokes, invitations by innuendo to an inappropriate sexual relationship, receiving offensive telephone messages, receiving pornography on the computer and an attempt to kiss by force, causing an injury on the thigh in the process of resisting.
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