There are plenty of allegations around what led to the suspension of Mark Coetzee, executive director and chief curator of Cape Town’s state-of-the-art Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), but as things stand nobody seems too keen to go on the record.

Coetzee was suspended last month by the trustees of the museum, who cited professional misconduct, but many of those who lodged complaints signed non-disclosure agreements which bar them from speaking publicly.

That being said, City Press has spoken to “numerous well-placed sources, who do not want to be named”, and those sources paint a picture of a man who displayed “abusive behaviour towards young curatorial staff members”.

More from that report:

Several apparent patterns have emerged from the accounts given by sources, both men and women, though his sexual harassment appears to have been directed at men. Women have previously told City Press about being body shamed by the famous curator.

Coetzee [below], it is alleged, was particularly hurtful when wondering about the size of black men’s penises.

Another favourite theme of Coetzee’s, claim sources across the art world, relates to his openly asking men what kind of underwear they were wearing.

Other sources have confirmed that Coetzee made overtly racist comments in the work environment. One confirmed comment was that he stated in a meeting that he was not to able to tell the difference between black people. Coetzee did not respond to City Press’ queries this week.

The last time we spoke about the Zeitz MOCAA some angry emailers were calling it a ‘Temple of Satan’, so at least this is grounded in reality.

In the face of media queries, the trustees have remained very mum on the matter:

Asked for comment this week, they responded: “We have instigated a process under labour law against Mr Coetzee, which is ongoing. During this process, we are prohibited from commenting in detail.”

Exactly what this process entails remains a mystery. The trustees have previously told City Press that, “at this stage, there are no indications of a criminal inquiry”.

The trustees say he is currently serving out his notice and, as such, is still an employee of the museum, hence the labour process.

Mark himself has also gone rather quiet on Twitter, with his last tweet going out on April 24.

There’s also an interview with Arts journalist Matthew Blackman on the Mail & Guardian from back in May, touching on Coetzee and the museum, that makes for interesting reading.

Who knows what comes next, but those non-disclosure agreements may prevent the truth from ever bubbling to the surface.

[source:citypress]