Pretoria - The former DA MPL accusing the party’s provincial leader Solly Msimanga of sexual harassment is considering private prosecution after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decided not to pursue the matter.
The complainant yesterday said that she would be writing to the NPA requesting a nolle prosequi certificate.
The woman said she was informed during a consultation with the prosecutor that the NPA had decided not to prosecute. According to her, initially, she had been told that the decision to prosecute or not to prosecute would be made by both her and the NPA.
“The prosecutor insisted that he will not prosecute regardless of how I answer his questions, and that no legal opinion will convince him otherwise.
“What I find particularly strange is that the prosecutor conceded that my version was more believable, and in fact, went as far as saying that with the evidence before him he doesn’t doubt that the incident did take place.
“However, he will not prosecute because of one minor thing that might let the accused off the hook. Even when I said that I’m willing to take the stand and be grilled by the defence on that technicality, he declined to prosecute because he has the discretion to do so.”
In a statement yesterday, she said: “A week prior to this meeting, Helen Zille (chairperson of the federal council) wrote an article titled “getting closer to the truth of a sex scandal”, and that article reads like it was written by someone who knew what the outcome would be.”
She said it was for that reason she would be getting legal opinion on the matter and explore an option of private prosecution because she stood by her truth.
However, Msimanaga said the complainant was desperate to get out of the mess she created when she tried to use gender-based violence to settle political scores. He said his team was relentless in their quest to sue her to teach her a lesson.
He said she was trying to pre-empt and act as if someone did something wrong or tried to buy the case because the courts were not interested in prosecuting her case.
The DA axed the complainant from the party after questioning the timing of her complaint given that the alleged incident happened six years ago.
Msimanga, however, said: “This is far from over because I am continuing with my legal lawsuit against her. She needs to realise that gender-based violence is a serious problem in this country, and she cannot use it to fight political battles.”
He said he was previously informed about the complainant’s intention to write to the NPA, but that would not derail his ambitions to see that his accuser was punished and used as an example to discourage any person planning to lie about another person.
Pretoria News