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Vathiswa Ruselo, Gallo Images / Sowetan
- An ANC councilor was released on bail of R2,000 at the Alexandra Court of First Instance.
- He was arrested and charged with rape over the weekend.
- The ANC in Johannesburg has stated that it is on the side of the victim.
An ANC councilor facing rape charges received a bond of R2,000 in the Alexandra Court of First Instance.
The councilman, who cannot be identified, was detained over the weekend and appeared in court on Monday.
Before his appearance, the ANC in Johannesburg warned its members not to attend the court case with ANC insignia.
ANC regional secretary Dada Morero said in a statement that the party was asking members to “disengage [from] anyone who is an alleged perpetrator [of] gender violence “.
“No one who goes to court to support the alleged perpetrator should wear ANC insignia. Our thing is to support the victim until justice is served,” Morero said.
However, this was ignored as people in ANC colors attended the court case. Morero told News24 after the appearance that there were two groups in ANC underwear: the ANC Women’s League and the second group were suspected of being members of the Alexandra Youth League.
“The Women’s League did inform the region yesterday of its intentions and we had no problem with that because our statement was clear that we are on the side of the victim,” Morero said.
READ | ANC councilor arrested for rape
Regarding the second group, he said the party still needed to determine whether those present were members of the ANC, before taking action against them.
“We have yet to determine who were the people who were leading the second group and, on that basis, the ANC will determine an action against those who ignored the call of the maternal body that no one should be there with badges. If they wanted to go, they should have done so without wear the party badges, “he said.
Meanwhile, the ANC Youth League in Alexandra accused her mother body of interfering in the case in a statement before the trial.
“As the ANC Greater Alexandra Youth League, we must affirm that we are rapidly losing confidence in the process, in the sense that the case has already been manipulated by senior ANC leaders, advancing their own divisions that are taking place in the ANC in Greater Johannesburg.
“We have seen over and over again the phenomenon of politicians using the judicial system to settle political scores, and we fear that this case may be part of a long series of attacks committed to attack the character of the accused. Also, concerned with intent. of certain ANC leaders to pressure the judicial processes to deny him bail and treat the case with partiality, “he said in a statement.
The matter will return to court in February.
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