By Murray Williams
The African National Congress has warned that it will immediately expel any member, regardless of seniority, who is found guilty of drug trafficking or any related charge.
This comes after the discovery of 15 000 Mandrax tablets at the home of ANC member of parliament Cecilia "Mamphi" Ramotsamai on Friday.
The party adopted a resolution to this effect at its special general council meeting on Saturday.
The ANC branches said: "While reaffirming our support for the presumption of innocence, the ANC declares publicly that any of our members, at any level of our organisation, who is found guilty of drug trafficking, will be immediately expelled."
Police, meanwhile, have denied giving Ramotsamai preferential treatment.
Sunday Argus was inundated with calls from readers who wanted to know why she had not been arrested. "When police find drugs at other people's houses, they are summarily arrested and can then tell their side of the story. Why did this not happen here?" asked one.
But police said the house had been under surveillance for some time and no one was getting preferential treatment.
Police raided the Goodwood Ramotsamai's home after being tipped off about a drug deal that was allegedly to take place there.
At 1pm on Friday, undercover police watched a minibus enter Ramotsamai's garage, followed by a car. The car left a few minutes later, with police not far behind.
Organised crime detectives stopped the car on the R300 near Delft and found five packs of Mandrax containing 1 000 tablets each. The three occupants were arrested.
The unit then returned to Ramotsamai's home where they stripped the minibus and found 15 000 Mandrax tablets hidden behind the panelling.
Police spokesman Neville Malila insisted that Ramotsamai's home had been under surveillance and that the investigating officer had seen who was driving the two vehicles in which the drugs were found. Neither was Ramotsamai. He said this was why she had not been arrested.
He admitted, however, that the three arrested occupants of the car were thus far to be charged only with possession of the tablets found in the car in which they were travelling.
He said police were still trying to establish to whom the minibus belonged.
Malila refused to divulge how long the house had been under surveillance, or for how long the matter had been under investigation.
He said Ramotsamai had given a full statement, had promised her full co-operation, and was not a suspect at this stage.