ANC in Joburg moves to suspend rape-accused councillor

The councillor, who cannot be named until he has pleaded in court, was arrested for allegedly attacking a woman on 26 December.

He was granted R2000 bail by the Wynberg Regional Court and is expected back on court on February 26.

He also indicated that he would be willing to voluntarily step down from his position until the conclusion of his trial.

ANC Joburg regional spokesperson Sasabona Manganye says the party’s intention was always to suspend him, given the serious nature of the allegations.

“He did receive the letter from the councillor, our intention has always been to suspend him from the council, that letter in itself made it easier because it activates what we wanted to do because you can’t remain in council when accused of such serious allegations.”

Manganye says it is unfair to judge the ANC as an organisation through an individual’s behaviour.

“The African National Congress is an organisation that is joined by members of society who come from their capacity voluntarily, so the societal ills are not immune from affecting the ANC and as a result time and again we will be confronted by maters of this nature, or even worse than the current one.

“But at the end of the day, it is what we do when we are confronted by these situations that do not represent who we are and our values as an organisation and the kind of action we take determine whether we remain a reputable organisation or not, but induvial conducts should not necessarily be determining or painting an organisation in such a picture, an organisation of more than million members,

If we do not act on people who are accused of such then we can be accused of not being a reputable organisation.”

He says the party’s integrity commission was given until the end of January to finalise its verdict on the matter.

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