DA lays charges against Manana, calls for his removal

The Democratic Alliance has laid charges of bribery, corruption and extortion against ANC Member of Parliament and convicted assaulter, Mduduzi Manana.

The charges, according to the DA’s shadow deputy minister of women Terri Stander, relate to the voice recording which emerged last week in which Manana can be heard allegedly trying to pay off his former domestic worker, Christine Wiro, after she laid charges against him for common assault.

The charges were dropped the same day, but the DA is trying to get Manana removed from Parliament, following the ANC’s inaction, Stander said.

According to the police affidavit, Stander says that following the news reports in which the audio surfaced, “there is a possibility that Mr Manana tried to extort his former domestic worker by offering her an amount in order to withdraw the charges she laid against him”.

“It shows that Mr Manana offers to give his domestic worker a form of gratification in order to benefit himself,” reads the affidavit, which was submitted by Stander at the Douglasdale Police Station on Monday.

Stander said that the “gratification” relates to Manana avoiding prosecution.

Stander said on Monday that Manana broke his oath of office following his conviction.

“Although the DA has referred him to the parliamentary ethics committee last week Wednesday, we do not trust that the parliamentary ethics committee will sit to deal with Manana,” Stander said.

Stander also accused the ANC of protecting Manana despite his assault conviction in 2017 and the subsequent alleged assault by his former domestic worker.

Stander said that in a question and answer session in March, deputy president David Mabuza responded to her after she asked why no action had been taken against Manana by saying “the ANC doesn’t have a dustbin into which it throws its members, rather they try and ‘rehabilitate them’”.

During a recent question and answer session with President Cyril Ramaphosa, Stander said Ramaphosa “was unaware of the details” surrounding the assault allegations which emerged against Manana by Wiro.

“Clearly, the Ramaphoria has ended and he [Ramaphosa] is showing discomfort against taking action against members of his party,” Stander said.

“The ANC should have fired him as MP when he was first of convicted of assault, but turned a blind eye to him breaking his oath of office instead. The DA will fight to ensure that Manana faces the full might of the law and will continue to hold those who violate the rights of women accountable,” she said.

Attempts at getting commentary from the ANC and Manana were unsuccessful at the time of publication.