CAPE TOWN - Suspended Community Safety MEC, Albert Fritz is yet to face criminal charges following his immediate suspension amid sexual misconduct allegations.
This comes after Premier Alan Winde announced that independent legal counsel has been appointed to conduct an external investigation into the veracity of the allegations made against Fritz.
In a statement, Winde said: “I am not in a position to lay criminal charges currently, but I cannot discount the prospect of this happening, should the investigation by this independent counsel result in advice indicating that it is necessary or appropriate for me to do so.”
Winde would not confirm that further officials had been suspended in relation to the allegations made against Fritz.
Continued efforts to get comment from Fritz were unsuccessful on Tuesday.
Political analyst, Keith Gottschalk, said it was “saddening” that Fritz faces these allegations as the MEC for community safety.
“This is another reminder that all political parties across the board should take action against people in positions of power and protect their subordinates,” he said.
Whistle-blower and activist Colin Arendse has demanded a police docket to be opened to investigate allegations of the existence of a “sex ring or ‘kring’ involving public and business officials, where ”membership of the ‘kring (ring)’ is by invitation only”.
“(This) is not the first time that these serious allegations have surfaced. And all indications are that although fellow staff members may have been aware of the captured debauchery, they chose to cover it up instead,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ANC in the legislature said the lack of transparency by the DA was a “cover-up that will keep the allegations against suspended Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz out of the public eye and away from oversight scrutiny for as long as possible”.
In a statement, the ANC said as far as they were concerned, the latest bid in closing ranks around what Winde has called serious allegations against Fritz, was a letter from the Speaker Masizole Mnqasela in which he informs ANC member of parliament Mesuli Kama that he cannot interfere in the workings of the Standing Committee on Community Safety, Cultural Affairs and Sport.
Kama had earlier this week demanded an urgent meeting with the chair of the Standing Committee Reagen Allen.
ANC Chief Whip, Pat Lekker, said: “In defending the right of the Standing Committee not to summon the Premier, the Speaker is doing the indefensible. He should have called on it to act on its mandate. He is undermining accountability, something that the DA claims to be a champion of. This is unacceptable. It exposes the DA’s double standards and strategy of covering up what Fritz is alleged to have done.
“We have no option but to ask the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to summon Winde to give a full explanation under oath of what Fritz is alleged to have done, and how long he has known about the allegations. We want the truth to be known as soon as possible, and if that means it will come out in the NCOP, then so be it,” said Lekker.
Cape Times