Embattled Western Cape ANC chairman Marius Fransman says he is being pushed out of his party.
Fransman has slammed the party’s secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, for not looking out for him while he is embroiled in a sex scandal.
He says the ANC’s handling of the matter has been “insensitive, insulting, disrespectful and tardy”, reported Weekend Argus.
He claims Mantashe failed to protect his right to due process and had given in to factions within the ruling party, trying to oust him after he was convicted in the “court of public opinion”.
In January, Fransman was accused of sexually harassing 21-year-old Louisa Wynand during a trip to the ANC’s 104th birthday celebrations in the North West province.
He had agreed to step aside from his position of provincial chairman while the matter was being investigated.
“Since February I have acted with constraint in respect of the ANC’s processes, now only to realise the process in my matter was never supposed to be fair and impartial and was manipulated to become a concerted effort to get rid of me by tarnishing my name and reputation,” he says.
His statement comes after the City Press published a leaked ANC integrity commission report on July 10, which recommended Fransman be let go for bringing the party into disrepute.
According to the report, he has also been banned from holding elected positions within the organisation.
Fransman complained that he had not been afforded due process, that sensitive information was leaked and his rights as an elected party official had been abused.
Mantashe said the leaked report “was false”.
The Daily Voice asked Mantashe to respond to Fransman’s allegations yesterday at an ANC rally in Nyanga.
But all Mantashe would say was: “The man lives in this province, you should ask him,” before walking away.
Party spokesman Zizi Kodwa told Weekend Argus that the “report we have is not the one published by City Press.”
But he said “the ANC accepts the recommendations of the integrity committee” and confirmed the matter had been referred to the national disciplinary committee.
The North West office of the National Prosecuting Authority said it would not prosecute Fransman and its Northern Cape office is still reviewing Louisa’s allegations.