Cape Town - As respected lawyer, Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett recused himself from the panel reviewing the Anglican Church of SA’s handling of sexual abuse reports against former camp master, John Smyth, alleged victim of molestation, a Wits University academic, has shared his trauma via a social media post.

Dr Hylton White, a senior lecturer in anthropology, took to Facebook on January 16, where he said his patience had run out and braved to expose Gauntlett, claiming he had abused him while he was a teenager.

Earlier, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town released a statement in which he said he accepted Gauntlett’s offer to step down from the panel.

Via the Facebook post, White said he had “no choice” but to make his story known to the public, sharing intimate details of what he allegedly experienced.

“I thought I had some patience here but actually I don’t. The Anglican Church in South Africa is an idiot and a coward. They have been told about Jeremy Gauntlett privately and they have not responded, so I’m going public,” he wrote.

“The church announced in late 2024 that it had appointed a three-person panel to look into its handling of the Smyth case that brought down Justin Welby as the Archbishop of Canterbury over historic mishandling of child sex abuse.

“I recognised all three names. Mamphela Ramphele had taught me through my BA in Anthropology at UCT.

“Judge Farlam is a famous public figure in his own right. And then there was Jeremy Gauntlett, SC and KC.

“Gauntlett has a very particular role in my life. In my early teens I went up the Hogsback peak with him.

“We talked a lot up the path and it became clear that he was an ally for my early refusal of apartheid indoctrination, a view my own family found contemptible.

“He told me about his defence of liberation fighters in court. I felt heard for the first time in my life. At a pool halfway up the mountain he undressed me and gripped me between his own naked legs in the water.

“What he did behind me I can’t say.

“Then he sent me books of poetry in the post.

“In then-Port Elizabeth during the 80s I cannot quite say what an invitation to the wider world this was.

“When he came for a case in the city he took me to lunch then to his hotel room, where he had me undress so he could bathe me then have sex with me.

“Later I got to UCT and I still desired this connection.

“I went to see him defend MK people in court. I asked him for a reference when I lost my ID.

“I went to show him a hippy shirt I’d bought at the market. I met his wife Tessa, swam naked with him in his pool at his Constantia home, was groped by him while his wife was a room away, then finally threw him out of my residence room at campus when he dropped me off one day.

“I was never traumatised by anything Jeremy did. He never used physical force against me”

He further revealed that he had allegedly confronted Gauntlett about the allegations of abuse.

“He apologised by email for what he had done to me, and promised that there were not any others. I did not quite believe the last point, but I accepted the apology and told him we need not speak further of it,” he stated.

He shared that he had chosen to break his silence because he believed the review would not be justified and fair if Gauntlett was part of it.

“I want to make it perfectly clear to the public that the findings of any panel on child sex abuse allegations that involve the influence of Jeremy Gauntlett has no credibility whatsoever. A powerfully professional man who manipulates a teenager into sexual activity based on the need for affirmation is not qualified to sit in judgment on the matter of the church’s handling of Smyth’s abuses,” he said.

Makgoba said he asked that Gauntlett’s exit from the panel not disturb the review process.

In response to queries from the Cape Argus on Monday, White said: “Now that the church has taken steps and Adv. Gauntlett has resigned from the panel I don’t have anything further to add to what I’ve already said to the media. I’ve also set my original public post to private now, after leaving it up for a few days given the interest over the weekend. All best wishes, Hylton.”

Cape Argus