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The Democratic Alliance will be lodging a complaint with the Parliamentary Ethics committee against ANC MP Mduduzi Manana, “with a view to have him removed as an MP”.
This came after Manana faced a fresh set of assault allegations against him this weekend.
TimesLive reported on Sunday night that the ANC MP and former deputy minister of higher education and training had a case of common assault opened against him at the Douglasdale Police Station in Johannesburg on Sunday evening.
The case was believed to have involved Manana’s former domestic worker, who alleged that he had threatened to deport her back to Zimbabwe because he had “connections”, and that after an altercation in which Manana almost pushed her down the stairs at his home, Christine Wiro, feared for her life.
“Mr Manana has broken his oath and Parliament – if not the ANC – must fire him. Anything less would be a tacit acceptance by the ANC of violence against women. It is clear that Manana belongs in jail and not in Parliament,” DA shadow deputy minister of women, Terri Stander, said.
Stander said that during a question and answer session which was held in March, she asked deputy president David Mabuza why Manana was still a member of the ANC, despite his assault conviction last year.
According to Mabuza’s reply, the ANC was seeking to “rehabilitate” Manana.
“He replied: ‘We believe people can be corrected … we don’t have a dustbin where we throw people.’ He explained that the ANC aims to rehabilitate, not discard, those found on the wrong side of the law. This stance disregards the oath to uphold the Constitution and all laws that all members of Parliament must take when sworn into the National Assembly’.”
“I hope that this matter will be looked into. We have a responsibility to protect vulnerable groups and it doesn’t matter who it is,” is what Gauteng MEC for Social Development and ANC Women’s League member Nandi Mayathula-Khoza told City Press on Monday.
Mayathula-Khoza said she hadn’t yet been briefed on the full details surrounding the allegations against Manana.
“As soon as I have been briefed, as a department, we will be able to take this further. But for now, abuse against women and children should never happen,” she said.
Mayathula-Khoza had this morning held a media briefing that addressed the rape case of Baby M and gender-based violence.
Baby M’s mother was sentenced to life in prison for aiding and abetting her rapist. She had insisted her gravely injured two-month-old daughter had not been raped‚ but had been injured by falling.
Despite the fact that the National Prosecuting Authority did not believe it had adequate evidence to charge Baby M’s father for her rape‚ Mayathula-Khoza identified him as the infant’s “alleged rapist”, and said she was determined to seek justice for the baby girl.
Gauteng police spokesperson, Brigadier Mathapelo Peters, said that the common assault case involving Manana was opened, and then withdrawn a few hours later.
“I can confirm that a case of common assault was opened at Douglasdale police station on Sunday and then withdrawn by the victim a few hours later. We cannot confirm the circumstances why the case was withdrawn as it is the prerogative of the victim,” she said.
Manana pleaded guilty in September and was convicted of three counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. The prosecution followed the release of a video that showed Manana beating up women at the popular Cubana lounge in Fourways on August 6. Manana had lashed out against the women for referring to him as “gay”.
Manana was fined R100 000 and given a suspended 12-month prison sentence, as well 500 hours of community service.
