The ANC says its hands are tied from removing a rape-accused councillor from its deployees list as the man continues to draw a salary while languishing in prison.
The party in the North West has confirmed that Tebogo Sepale, 43, who has been charged with statutory rape continues to earn a salary as a ward councilor in the Matlosana local municipality because they can only remove him once he is granted bail.
However, ANC provincial spokesperson Tumelo Marupeng said the ANC was opposed to Sepale getting bail due to the seriousness of the charges.
Sepale made his third court appearance in absentia in the Orkney magistrate’s court on Monday on 11 provisional charges – two for statutory rape, three for the violation of a child, one for manufacturing pornographic material, four for rape and one for sexual intimidation.
He was arrested in May after videos of him sexually abusing minor boys emerged on social media.
Sepale’s matter comes after the Klerksdorp family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit probed a case of crimen injuria and two separate counts of statutory rape after they were reported at Kanana police station.
His matter was postponed yesterday to July 7 for further investigations.
This means he would have spent 61 days behind bars having earned two salaries of about R23,000 per month.
Maruping said the party had done all it can to have Sepale removed legally.
“This is an old story and I don’t understand why we have to rehash it again. Of course it doesn’t sit well with us that Sepale is still drawing a salary on our name while he is in jail but it is the law. The ANC suspended him immediately after he was arrested and he is not part of any organisational activities,” Maruping told Sowetan on Monday.
“Two weeks later we developed charges against him and served him with the charges in jail. He signed the charge sheet. All that is left it’s for him to appear before the party’s disciplinary committee so that he can answer for himself.
“Unfortunately, this process could not happen because he is in jail and can’t come to the hearings. We can only remove him once the disciplinary process is complete. We can only declare a vacancy for his position once he is found guilty internally. Our hands are tied at this stage,” Maruping said.
Municipal speaker Stella Mondlana also confirmed that Sepale was still receiving a salary but said council had established an ad-hoc committee to look into his breach of the code of conduct as a councillor.
“It is difficult to deal with a person that is behind bars, you can’t even call them for interviews and the law expects you to hear both sides of the story so they may need to make provisions for written representations,” she said.
“We have received a report [from the ANC] that they have instituted section 25 of the constitution of the ANC which is a disciplinary process that actually suspends him and they are further investigating the case and should they find probable reasons to dismiss him, they are ready to do that. So, it is a parallel process. His own political party is engaging in its own disciplinary process and we are doing our own.”
Ian Cameron from Action Society, a civil society organisation, said Sepale should have been suspended without pay.
“I think it is an atrocity that he still getting a salary,” he said.
“His contract with whoever his employer is should have ended with immediate effect. There is no investigation or due process that can turn around what he has done. It was open for the whole world to see and we have no doubt that he is guilty of the acts that he is being charged with.”
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.