ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe says he is ready to return to Luthuli House next week and resume his duties as the party’s spin doctor, after months away due to accusations of sexual harassment by his then
personal assistant.
Mabe denied the accusations and has since been cleared by the ANC’s internal grievance panel.
On Monday, Mabe confirmed to Independent Media that he had laid fraud charges against Koerano Kekana, accusing her of deliberately misrepresenting her qualifications to him in order to secure the job last year.
Mabe said he was returning to his job now, after he stepped down in December when Kekana lodged the complaint.
“There is no reason why I must not go back and resume my duties now.
“The panel has looked at the accusations and cleared me. I have been elected and I have no reason to leave my responsibilities, which have been given to me for the next five years,” Mabe said.
Kekana, who has since opened a case with the police, accused Mabe of cutting her salary after she refused to entertain his advances.
In his statement for the fraud case he initiated, Mabe said the decision to cut Kekana’s salary came after he discovered that she had lied about graduating from two colleges.
“Faced with her consistent poor performance whenever I requested her to perform tasks related to her functions, I decided to verify her qualifications and asked her to provide copies thereof, this being something that she had previously promised to do
“Upon making enquiries with Regenesys and Varsity College, I was advised that Koerano did not have any of the qualifications she had professed to have,” Mabe said.
He said the complainant had also lied about being a former provincial deputy chairperson of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) in an apparent attempt to boost her political profile.
Mabe said he had suffered harm as a result of Kekana’s allegations, which was why he had opened the case.
“I suffered personal harm as a result of the accusations and the decision to cut her salary. If I had not cut her salary, I would not be accused of sexual harassment. I cut her salary because we had to give her a job that met her competence,” he said.
Kekana could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.
Mabe said he had been reluctant to open the case as he wanted other internal processes to be concluded, including the work of the grievance panel.
He said he would resume his duties next month.
“I am done dealing with the issues I wanted to first deal with, which was the reason I asked for extended leave. One of them included the request by the grievance panel that we all go for counselling after the case,” he said.
The ANC Women’s League, which called for Mabe’s suspension when the allegations surfaced, could not be reached for comment.