Publications
Partners
Allegations of sexual assault against the ANC’s Western Cape leader have resulted in old factions rearing their heads in an election year when the party can least afford it.
Senior provincial leaders in the party raised this concern again yesterday, saying that factional wars – which had been raging for years – had already cost the ANC the Western Cape.
Sources within the ANC compared the situation in which the party found itself in the province with a Western Cape version of the TV series Game of Thrones.
An SMS campaign in support of Marius Fransman, #HandsOffFransman, started doing the rounds over the weekend.
Fransman has been accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman. He has denied this, and has received support on Facebook, with supporters writing posts titled: “In support of an innocent man.”
The New Age reported yesterday that Fransman’s wife has pledged to “stand by her husband”.
Fransman’s supporters also encouraged people to show their support by showing up in numbers on Monday at the party’s provincial head office. A meeting of the party’s top five officials was scheduled for Monday and the Fransman matter was on the agenda. The meeting was postponed to today.
Jabu Mfusi, a member of the ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC), said many committee members only returned home from holiday on Sunday evening.
Mfusi confirmed that Fransman attended the meeting today and stated his case. A press conference is scheduled for tomorrow where more details will be given.
“We cannot prescribe anything before the police investigation has run its course. We will however formulate a proper position on how we are going to deal with the matter. It is on the agenda. Until then we cannot condemn anybody, ” Mfusi said yesterday.
Mfusi said the allegations were “seriously concerning” and that opposition parties would be “merciless in using it against us in the election”.
He could not confirm whether Fransman’s accuser was an ANC employee. Fransman reportedly offered her a job before the alleged incident.
“At this point these are pure rumours. We will have proper details after the meeting of the ANC PEC officials.”
Yesterday, Fransman said: “There are currently too many stories and new versions seem to emerge daily. So it is better to just respect the legal processes.”
The Western Cape PEC consists of 35 members, of whom at least 19 usually support the so-called Unity in Diversity Group, on whose ticket he was re-elected last year as provincial leader.
According to sources within the party Fransman has since made some “enemies” who could possibly influence the PEC’s approach to his case. The Mail & Guardian earlier reported that certain PEC members had referred to him as a “bully”.
Provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs, who is widely regarded as part of the Unity in Diversity Group, was placed on leave after an ANC employee laid a charge of assault against him.
Fransman announced the PEC’s decision to take disciplinary action against Jacobs.
There were also rumours of Fransman trying to lead disciplinary action against other PEC members.
Fransman controversies
- Marius Fransman had been part of the so-called Ebrahim Rasool faction that was involved in the “brown envelope scandal”.
- In 2014, the DA challenged Fransman and the social security agency Sassa in court because they believed they tried to buy votes in Atlantis with food parcels. The DA lost the case and Fransman demanded an apology from them.
- In 2015 he was accused of trying to buy support from coloured leaders in certain Cape Minstrel groupings before the 2014 general election. Fransman dismissed the allegations as a political smear campaign.
- In 2015 he came under fire for alleged ties to controversial businessmen including Mark Lifman, who attended Jacob Zuma’s 72nd birthday celebration in Athlone.
Fransman rejected the allegations and said: “We do not have links with gangs, we have links with people.”
