Cape Town - Louisa Wynand, the young woman who has accused ANC Western Cape provincial leader Marius Fransman of sexually assaulting her, has declined to comment on recent claims her allegations were not true.
Mogamat Majiet, a close confidant of Fransman, has denied claims of sexual harassment levelled against his friend.
Majiet was a passenger on the road trip during which 21-year-old Wynand, from Stellenbosch, claimed to have been harassed by Fransman.
The ANC stalwart said that after reading Wynand’s claims in court papers, he could not keep quiet as he urged the “grave injustices” against Fransman must stop.
Condemning Wynand’s version of events as contained in the ANC Integrity Commission Report as “lies”, Majiet said what Wynand claimed happened did not happen at all.
He said court papers showed Wynand told the ANC Integrity Commission during an interview he (Majiet) “would attempt to put her at ease” whenever Fransman “made her feel uncomfortable” and he cautioned her to “be careful of Marius”. He added none of it was true.
“Wynand’s testimony about my interaction with her during the road trip confirms that she is not a truthful person. This untruthfulness may be the reason that North West authorities declined to prosecute Fransman on the unsubstantiated accusations by Wynand,” Majiet said.
He also dismissed Wynand’s claims it was at Patrick Chauke’s Rustenburg guest house that she for “the first time started to experience real fear”, when she had consistently claimed in the media she was harassed on the road and in Kimberley.
Majiet said he was never asked to respond to Wynand’s “imaginary interactions” with him, or asked to provide an eyewitness account of the trip. “I know what happened and I know what did not happen on this trip.
“And what Wynand claimed happened, did not happen. It is as simple as that.”
Fransman, who must still appear in front of an ANC disciplinary committee following a recommendation by the Integrity Committee, said on Wednesday he had yet to receive a charge sheet.
He maintained the internal process against him had been “influenced, tainted, and marred by factionalist politics to remove him from his elected position as provincial chairman.
Wynand’s spokesman, Gavin Prins, said his client had no comment regarding the statement.
Cape Argus