CAPE TOWN - During a provincial virtual press conference, ANC provincial convenor Lerumo Kalako said that Khayelitsha ANC ward Councilor Xolisa Peter, who faces crimen injuria charges for allegedly disclosing the HIV status of another member of the party in a heated argument, will be stepping aside and the Independent Electoral Commission IEC will take her off the list.
This comes after Peter appeared for the fourth time at the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s court on Tuesday in relation to verbally assaulting women's league member Ntombi Dywili about her HIV status in public after an ANC meeting which was held on August 7. Tensions rose between the two factions supporting Peter and Dywili outside the court where Peter and her supporters, who refused to do interviews, accused journalists of being biased. The case has been postponed to October 8, 2021.
Kalako said the Party Liaison Committee PLC was continuing with disputes and vetting of candidates. The process was an ongoing process that would not stop even after it was concluded and until each and every dispute had been attended to and every candidate of the ANC had been vetted.
“Comrade Xolisa Peter will be stepping aside. The next step is that the electoral committee will take her off the list of the ANC. So that's how the ANC works and that's how we quickly try to deal with these cases. We have a case of Masibulele who hit somebody on the head. We have been enquiring from the comrades whether the case was opened and the availability of the charge sheet. Immediately those things are submitted to the ANC and we have proof and a case number that he is charged for assault, action will follow.
“In pending cases, the ANC position is clear: if you appear in court, you are charged and there is a charge sheet, you are required to step aside. Stepping aside is the decision of the ANC which has been taken and implemented even in this process. We are implementing that, hence all the comrades who appear in court and are charged are stepping aside. So in all the cases just like the comrades in Karoo, they are not resisting to step aside and already they have been taken off the list so that is what is going to happen,” said Kalako
Cape Times