Quinton Mtyala
SACP Western Cape secretary Khaya Magaxa is expected to take over from Marius Fransman after the latter was told to step aside from his position as ANC provincial leader.
The ANC in the province was rocked on Thursday when the party’s national working committee told Fransman to step aside and also gave ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs until Saturday to explain why he should not be suspended for his alleged assault on ANC researcher Wesley Seale.
Magaxa was also ANC Western Cape deputy chairperson.
The ANC top brass’s decision on Fransman came as allegations of sexual harassment against him had been referred to the party’s integrity committee. Jacobs’s deputy, Thandi Manikivana, is expected to take his place.
The current provincial executive was elected at a divided conference at the end of June last year, which saw Fransman retain his position but most of his allies on the executive were booted.
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the Western Cape executive had discussed the allegations against Fransman and referred the matter to the integrity committee.
“It has also been decided to ask him to step aside (while that decision is pending),” said Kodwa.
On January 8, a 20-year-old from Stellenbosch complained to police that Fransman had sexually harassed her en route to Rustenburg, where they had gone to attend the party’s anniversary celebrations.
It was reported the woman had travelled with Fransman and two other men from Cape Town, and that he allegedly touched her inappropriately while in the car – and while staying at a hotel in Kimberley she was forced to share a bed with him, where he again allegedly made sexual advances towards her.
On the matter of Jacobs, Kodwa said: “Having considered a number of representations, we have decided to suspend him. We have sent him a letter… and he has been given 48 hours (ending on Saturday) to answer the allegations of assault.”
The ANC’s move on Jacobs came days after the party’s national disciplinary appeals committee cleared him to return to his job, after it found that his “special leave” was unprocedural.
Kodwa said there was no such thing as “special leave” within the ANC, and despite an ongoing disciplinary case against Jacobs, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe had the power to suspend him.
Asked how Fransman and Jacobs’s removal would affect the ANC’s campaign for the local government elections in the Cape, Kodwa said the party’s election strategy was not reliant on individuals.
ANC national chairperson Baleka Mbete has been dispatched to the Western Cape and is expected to be the main speaker at the party’s provincial anniversary celebrations in Grabouw at the weekend, but Kodwa would not say whether she would meet the ANC’s provincial leadership to discuss the allegations against Fransman and Jacobs.
Fransman, Jacobs and most of the provincial executive could not be reached on Thursday and had switched off their phones, but one official said the decision on Fransman was expected to be conveyed to him on Monday.
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