ANCYL comrade a ‘sex pest’

AN ANCYL member who took part in the topless #FeesMustFall protest has lodged a sexual harassment complaint against her colleague for body-shaming her and calling her “horny” during a heated argument over the party’s December elective conference.

The incident happened in ANCYL’s ward 15 Whatsapp group on Monday. Sarah Mokwebo, 24, has since lodged a formal complaint with the branch executive in Ekurhuleni. The matter will be escalated to the party’s regional and provincial structures.

Branch chairperson Gugu Zwane confirmed that a complaint had been lodged against 35-year-old Ayanda Gantsu.

She described the incident as humiliating and disappointing, as her branch was about to welcome Gantsu back after he recalled his resignation from the party last month.

Mokwebo was at the Kempton Park police station yesterday to open a case against Gantsu when the Cape Times’s sister paper, The Star, called her but she refused to comment.

“I don’t want to speak about it yet. I need to iron out a few things. I don’t want to act on impulse. I need some time. Please respect my wishes,” said Mokwebo, who advocates feminism and is also a Master’s student at Wits University.

The group discussion over the hotly contested ANC presidential candidacy, which is likely to decide the country’s president, seems to have sparked the tension.

According to screengrabs seen by The Star, Gantsu had insulted Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who is one of the candidates by calling her “an old horse (too) tired to even walk and an x-girlfriend of the president” (sic).

Gantsu added that people who supported that “nonsense” (referring to Dlamini Zuma) lacked the capacity to save themselves.

Mokwebo intervened and asked Gantsu to show respect for Dlamini Zuma by calling her by her rightful name.

Dlamini Zuma was married to President Jacob Zuma for many years, before they divorced in the late 1990s.

Gantsu then charged directly at Mokwebo: “I shall sleep at night peacefully for my brain is not rented like yours. You empty sh**. Where was your head when you were naked in fees must fall protest?

“Comrades, ask her for her boobs here… If you want to be horny. You are even horny now. Infect (sic) you are always horny. Ward 15 is not for horny comrades.”

When Mokwebo asked what Gantsu’s problem was, he referred to her many photos taken during a topless #FeesMustFall protest at Wits in October 2016. In the photos Mokwebo and other students stood in front of the police while half-naked, with their hands raised above their heads.

“Ask those police, maybe they were ready that day from what they saw,” replied Gantsu.

Zwane said her branch would do all it takes to keep Gantsu away, because he has a history of bullying people on social media platforms.

“This is the first formal complaint about him, but it is not the first complaint.”