Beware the predator politicians
The finance minister is not the first SA politician to get into hot water over claims of sexual misconduct
The ANC’S national executive commitee was mum on the sexual assault charges brought against finance minister Enoch Godongwana when it held its special meeting on Tuesday.
This as other political parties called for the governing party heavyweight to step down from his position.
Before the meeting, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema said Godongwana had added sexual harassment to his “complete failure” in managing the South African economy.
Malema said Godongwana continuing in office spat in the faces of the 9516 victims of rape, who had opened cases between April and June.
“It is also a reflection that we are led by a government which has no regard for women. It is a government of a finance minister who abuses women in their places of profession. It is a government of a president who tortures a female domestic worker, because of his uncontrollable greed.
“If Godongwana had any respect for the office he holds, and the women of this country, he would have long resigned but he has not done so because he draws inspiration from his criminal president, who is unrepentant in the face of calls for accountability,” Malema said.
Committee members who attended Tuesday’s meeting told the Mail & Guardian the case levelled against Godongwana was not mentioned as party leaders were preoccupied with electoral committee guidelines for candidates vying for positions when the ANC goes to its elective conference in December.
The docket against the finance minister is in the hands of the National Prosecuting Authority, which is yet to decide if it will prosecute.
The investigation relates to a sexual assault complaint laid against Godongwana in Skukuza, Mpumalanga, which he visited with his wife earlier this month. An employee at a lodge in the Kruger National Park alleged the minister sexually assaulted her while she was giving him a massage in his room.
Godongwana maintains he is innocent, saying he “in no way or at any time inappropriately touched, sexually harassed or assaulted anyone”.
The minister joins a long list of South African politicians who have been accused of gender-based violence. These include:
Albert Fritz
The former member of the executive council for community safety in the Western Cape was fired after sexual misconduct allegations emerged earlier this year.
After the Democratic Alliance received statements from four complainants alleging sexual misconduct by Fritz, Western Cape premier Alan Winde initiated an independent, external investigation through the state attorney’s office, which appointed advocate Jennifer Williams to the case.
The women, who were interns or staff members in the social development and community safety departments when Fritz was a member of the executive council, complained to Winde about Fritz’s alleged sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and “grooming”.
“Williams found evidence indicating a sustained culture of the sexual objectification of women, underpinned by an indisputable power imbalance.”
Mbulelo Goniwe
The former ANC chief whip was sacked after he was found guilty of sexual harassment by the party’s disciplinary committee in 2007.
Goniwe was found guilty of bringing the organisation into disrepute and was expelled for three years after allegations that he had sexually harassed a 21-year-old administrative parliamentary assistant, who was subsequently named as Nomawele Njongo.
He was alleged to have asked her to have sex with him after she had helped serve dinner to guests at his home. When Njongo refused, he allegedly told her: “I thought you were a real Xhosa girl. How can you say ‘no’ to a chief whip as if I am an ordinary man?”
Goniwe’s political career did not survive the scandal.
Zizi Kodwa
The former ANC spin doctor was accused of drugging and raping a woman in 2019 during a private function in a hotel in Sandton.
The woman lodged a complaint against Kodwa, who was then the head of the presidency, with the party’s then secretary general Ace Magashule and Jessie Duarte, who was then deputy secretary general.
Kodwa denied the allegations, labelling them politically motivated.
The woman would later withdraw her claim against the now deputy intelligence minister.
Pule Mabe
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe temporarily stepped down from his position in 2019 when he was accused of sexual harassment by his 26-year-old personal assistant.
In a 14-page letter to Duarte, Mabe’s assistant detailed how he offered her a job in exchange for sex.
Mabe wrote to Magashule asking for leave, pending the outcome of the disciplinary processes instituted against him, after the allegations.
Mabe was later cleared of all allegations by the ANC’S grievance panel. He resumed his role as party spokesperson after taking extended leave.
Edmund van Vuuren
The former DA Eastern Cape chief whip was sacked and his party membership terminated when he was found guilty of sexually harassing a 26-year-old colleague.
He was alleged to have made inappropriate comments to the recently married woman during a phone call, including offering to “stand in” for her husband.
Archie Figlan
The DA MP was slapped with a fine after he was found guilty of sexually harassing a colleague during a march against former president Jacob Zuma in 2015. His penalty caused an uproar at the time, with the ANC calling for the DA to fire him.
He was ordered to donate R12 000 to the National Institute for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders, as well as perform two hours of community service at the institute every month for a year.
He could not be considered for any positions in the party for five years and also had to write a letter to the complainant requesting her forgiveness. Figlan remains a DA member.
Patrick Sindane
Former EFF central command team member Sidane was forced to resign as a member of parliament after an EFF student command member accused him of rape. In 2008, while a member of the Anti-privatisation Forum party, Sindane was accused of gang rape, along with two other party members and suspended.
The sexual escapades of a fair number of South Africa’s higher-level leaders have also landed them in the spotlight.
David Masondo
The deputy finance minister faced a legal battle after his mistress Palesa Lebitse claimed she had been forced to have an abortion at Masondo’s insistence. She also alleged that he had abused state resources to settle personal scores.
The matter dates to August 2019, when Lebitse was arrested by the Hawks in a “sting operation”.
The Hawks set a trap for her in which she accepted money from men she believed were representing Masondo but were actually undercover police officers.
In her court application, Lebitse said she had been detained at the Douglasdale police station, in Sandton, from 17 to 19 August 2019.
She was released after appearing in the Randburg magistrate’s court on charges of trying to bribe Masondo. The prosecutor declined to prosecute.
It later emerged Masondo had offered her money.
As a result of the incident, the ANC integrity committee recommended that Masondo step aside.
John Steenhuisen
In 2010, Steenhuisen resigned as DA Kwazulu-natal leader over an affair with the party’s provincial spokesperson Terry Kass-beaumont, who he later married, after divorcing his wife of 10 years.
Steenhuisen retained his position as a DA MPL and caucus leader until he moved to the National Assembly in 2011.
Gwede Mantashe and Tito Mboweni
In a sex scandal involving the two ANC leaders, Pretoria student Lerato Makgatho claimed to have been mistress to both men.
Describing Mantashe as a “tiger” — a nickname the energy minister gleefully took on — Makgatho said she had decided to go to the media after the two party leaders were blackmailed.
Mantashe was criticised after he allegedly offered Sunday World journalists a bribe to suppress the story.
He remains one of the most powerful ANC leaders and ministers in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration.
Mboweni continued in his ministerial work but resigned as minister of finance several years later.
Cyril Ramaphosa
In 2017, Ramaphosa, who was then deputy president, attempted unsuccessfully to interdict The Sunday Independent from publishing leaked emails between himself and a mistress, who referred to Ramaphosa by the nickname “Cupcake”.
Ramaphosa went on to win the battle for the ANC presidency and the presidency of the country.
Malusi Gigaba
Once considered a potential ANC president, Gigaba is one of the most scandal-prone leaders in the party.
Aside from the allegations of corruption and being an accomplice to state capture, Gigaba’s dirty laundry has been aired in public on many occasions.
Most memorable is a leaked image of his genitalia.
Gigaba’s separation from his wife Norma Mngoma became a hot topic when she appeared on news channel ENCA detailing her husband’s relationship with the Gupta family.