Cape Town -The ANC in the Western Cape has defended its decision not to enforce the step-aside rule in relation to convicted MPL Andile Lili, saying they are still waiting for the facts of the matter.
Lili was convicted for attending an illegal gathering at the Bellville Magistrate’s Court between August 2014 and July 2015, and inciting members of the Ses’khona People’s Movement to commit murder.
Lili had told supporters that murderers and rapists should “be killed if people saw them walking on the streets”.
The incidents date back to when Lili was the leader of the Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement, an organisation he founded after being suspended from the ANC for leading protesters to throw human excrement on the steps of the provincial legislature.
Lili has denied that he incited violence, charging he made the statement out of frustration after a 21-year-old woman was raped and murdered in Khayelitsha. He was expected to appear at the Bellville Magistrate’s Court for sentencing on Friday.
Questions have been raised over the provincial ANC’s failure to take action and order Lili to step aside. The step-aside resolution was first adopted in 2017 and dictated that ANC members in elected positions, who face criminal charges, should step aside.
The party’s Western Cape interim provincial chairperson, Lerumo Kalako said: “We are not sure of the nature of the charges.
All we know is that he was charged when he went to address the community in court after a girl was raped and murdered. So they charged him with incitement of murder. But when we contacted his lawyers they said that is the wrong charge and they are disputing it. So we don’t exactly have the correct version of events.
“The step-aside rule is based on serious crimes and corruption. So what we were saying to the lawyers is that they must give us the court records so that we are able to take action, but we have not yet received those records.
What we got from his lawyers is that he’s not convicted on the incitement to murder charge. That is why we are waiting to know exactly what he (is) convicted of so we can take action.” Lili told the Cape Times on Thursday: “The charges are not in (the) category of serious crimes. I was sharing my frustrations about the gender-based violence that is prevalent in our communities. It was a mere freedom of speech. How does it then compare to cases of corruption, and on what basis?
I am being persecuted for speaking up against gender-based violence,” he said.
Lili said he will continue to serve in his position in the Western Cape legislature.
Director at the School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University, Zwelinzima Ndevu, said there were “inconsistencies” in the application of the step-aside rule.
“This speaks clearly to the non-consistency of the application of the step-aside rule and perhaps the unfairness of this policy. Because it does not apply equally to everyone. And secondly, what happens if a person is cleared after two years? What about the time that he has lost? I am not sure about the facts of the case of Andile Lili. It could be that there are other mitigating reasons why he has not stepped aside yet but from where I am sitting, it does not seem to be any reasons why,” said Ndevu.
Cape Times