DAILY VOICE

Sikhumbuzo Eric Kholwane.

Police are searching for the blood of an ANC Member of Parliament accused of rape.

Officers say they have not been able to get hold of MP Sikhumbuzo Eric Kholwane, 39, to get a blood sample since he was released on bail last year.

Kholwane appeared in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court this week where he faces charges for an alleged sex attack that happened at his official parliamentary home.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Kepler Uys told the court: “The investigating officer would like the accused [Kholwane] to avail himself so that he can draw blood.”

Uys told Magistrate Marietjie van Eeden that police had been “struggling to get hold of the accused”.

Van Eeden told Kholwane to “co-operate” with police and then postponed the matter.

Kholwane, who represents the ANC in the Communications Portfolio Committee, was arrested on Tuesday, December 20, 2011, after a woman claimed he had raped her.

According to a source close to the investigation, Kholwane and the woman had known each other for several months before the alleged incident took place.

The source told the Daily Voice that the pair had enjoyed a sexual relationship and on the day of the alleged attack, Kholwane had phoned the woman and told her that he wanted to see her.

He allegedly went to fetch her at work and took her back to his home where she agreed to spend the night.

The woman claimed she had been sleeping and that when she woke up Kholwane was having sex with her.

The source says that when the woman realised what was happening she ran out of the house and went to the security guard at the housing complex.

Police were called to the complex in 14th Avenue, Grassy Park, and Kholwane was taken into custody.

Kholwane’s bail was set at R500 and he was forbidden from entering Mowbray.

*This article was published in the Daily Voice