‘Child porn on DA councillor’s PC’

Published May 4, 2012

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Child pornography was found on the office computer of a DA councillor at the centre of a porn scandal.

ANC politicians made the claim on Thursday night as they heaped pressure on their bitter DA rivals.

And they accused the DA of trying to cover up the scandal involving the Swellendam councillor.

“The ANC is shocked that the DA is still trying to sweep the matter under the carpet,” the ANC Cape’s spokesman Cobus Grobler says.

“Are the rights of a council member more important that the rights of children?”

ANC Western Cape provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile says the party reported the matter to cops earlier this week.

Police have confirmed they are investigating.

They say they will refer the case to the Directorate for Public Prosecutions once their investigations are complete.

However, the DA hit out at the ANC’s claims of a cover-up.

The Daily Voice can confirm that Swellendam municipal manager Nico Nel has been appointed to head up a DA investigation into the scandal.

“I am personally handling the investigation,” Nel says.

“We view this matter in a very serious light.

“Our view is that anyone is innocent until proven guilty. And at this stage... there is no concrete evidence of an offence.

“But if an offence was committed, we will not ignore it. If the person is guilty, he will be charged. We will not compromise on the DA’s norms and standards.”

The councillor at the centre of the scandal is known to the Daily Voice but cannot be named for legal reasons.

And it is understood the man will keep his job as a councillor pending the outcome of the investigation.

There is still no hard evidence that the councillor deliberately downloaded or even viewed the sick images on his computer.

Nel confirms the municipality’s IT department allegedly came across the porn in November while working on the councillor’s machine.

“I have asked the IT department to compile a comprehensive report on what was found on the computer,” he adds.

Nel says the computer was left unused for a while and it could be that someone else viewed the porn.

Swellendam mayor Nicholas Myburgh says the IT technicians were removing viruses from the machine when they made the shocking discovery.

“The viruses had links to pornographic websites,” he explains.

“It is possible that the viruses themselves created the impression that someone had accessed the porn websites.”

*This article was published in the Daily Voice

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