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The ANC Women’s League has written to the ANC in Mpumalanga for answers on why a former MEC accused of child rape was reinstated into the party’s provincial government structures.
The former MEC was released on bail of 20,000 rand in September after being charged with allegedly raping his young daughter. Her stepson is also a co-defendant in the rape. The conditions of his bail at the time required that he check in with a local police station on a weekly basis.
However, the Nelspruit trial court on Monday relaxed the conditions of his bail to allow him to return to his party duties in the province. He now only has to report to the police once a month, and this assignment was made to allow him to travel for party-related duties.
A day later, just before the country launched the 16 annual days of activism against women and child abuse, the Mpumalanga ANC reinstated the defendant into the party leadership despite the accusations against him. The PEC decided to welcome the accused, pending the resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC) on the separation of the members facing criminal charges.
ANC provincial spokeswoman Sasekane Manzini said it would be unfair to distinguish him from several others who also faced charges in court.
“There are many people who are awaiting trial at the national level and national officials say they are [engaging] legal advice in the resolution of the NEC. That will be discussed at the next NEC meeting.
“Because he’s not the only one, we want to make sure this is fully implemented… We said, let’s allow him to participate as well until the NEC clarifies how it will be implemented in the future,” he said.
The ANCWL, however, wants a clear explanation for the reinstatement of the rape accused. They have sent a letter from their office to the Mpumalanga structure, requesting responses.
“We want to understand what the reasons were behind this. While we believe in the principle of innocence until proven otherwise on gender-based violence, we are very determined in our campaign to end all forms of violence against women, children and vulnerable groups. The ANC’s position to reinstate rape defendants in the ANC structures does not remove us as a Women’s League from our position of supporting the victim, ”said ANCWL Secretary General Meokgo Matuba.
The Women’s League said the party must be guided by “theory and practice.”
“As an integral part of the organization, we will continue to seek the ANC through these appropriate internal processes to engage with them … We tell the ANC that they are leading society. They should not only lead in theory but also in practice in the fight against gender violence ”.
Manzini, however, argued that reinstating the suspects in the party ranks does not mean that the ANC does not support the victims.
“We will continue to support the victim. We are not saying that we are going to treat it differently. “
Meanwhile, the ANC called on all sectors of society to combat the scourge of gender violence and to observe the 16 days of activism against gender violence.
“We cannot, as a society, afford to turn a blind eye to this scourge. The scale of the impact of gender-based violence on our society imposes on all of us a responsibility that we cannot avoid, ”said ANC spokesman Pule Mabe in a statement.
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