Mantashe lambasts Fransman
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has criticised the party’s Western Cape chairman Marius Fransman’s defiance, stopping just short of labelling his actions “divisive”.
ANC leaders, including Mantashe and the party’s head of elections Nomvula Mokonyane sung from different hymn books over the weekend regarding whether or not Fransman could continue with his duties.
This follows damning accusations that Fransman sexually harassed a young woman employee during the party’s 104th year celebrations in Rustenburg, North West.
The matter has since been referred to the party’s disciplinary committee by the organisation’s integrity committee.
Yesterday Fransman released a statement in which he maintained that he had not been suspended and that he would continue doing party work in the Western Cape. According to insiders, Fransman was at the ANC provincial headquarters in Cape Town. ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa also said Fransman remained suspended.
He accused Mantashe of questioning President Jacob Zuma and Mokonyane who alleged during a door-to-door campaign that Fransman was back at work and that “nothing has changed” in terms of his deployment as provincial chair.
Fransman yesterday took the ANC to the Western Cape High Court in a bid to be reinstated to his position.
Mantashe said the party is busy campaigning for next week’s local government elections and that any other matter which the party was confronted with was aimed at shifting its focus.
“It is not part of our election work and will make us lose focus. We are dealing with election work,” said Mantashe.
He warned Fransman against pitting national leaders of the ANC against each other in a bid to undermine the disciplinary process.
Mantashe urged members to respect the various structures of the ANC regardless of rank.
“He is trying to be divisive and I am not going to be drawn into that. An organisation like ours has structures. It is not a beauty contest. There are appropriate structures within the party and rules must be followed,” he said.
Fransman said he was forced to rely on “often contradictory” media reports to learn the status of the integrity committee report, which he claims he still has to receive.