Tearful testimony at Fransman inquiry
TEARS flowed when the ANC integrity committee heard testimony from the woman who has filed a complaint of sexual harassment against former Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman.
While the 21-year-old, who cannot be named, would not comment on her testimony or the proceedings, she confirmed she had appeared before the committee in Johannesburg last Saturday.
The Sunday Times has established that she was emotional during her evidence, which also left some committee members in tears. She has said before that she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has gone into hiding.
Fransman, who was asked to step down from his party position, would not say if he had appeared before the committee.
“No, man, I am not commenting on anything,” he said.
He has maintained his innocence and claimed the complaint was part of a plot to get rid of him. Last month, he said the saga had put the ANC in a “tremendously difficult situation” ahead of local elections.
On January 4, shortly after being appointed to work at a hotel in which Fransman had an interest, the woman allegedly travelled with him to the ANC’s 104th birthday celebrations in Rustenburg in North West.
According to her affidavit, Fransman got into the back seat of the car and started touching her inappropriately. At the hotel in Kimberley she was forced to share a bed with him.
The ANC in the Western Cape said the matter had been referred to the integrity committee. Fransman would “be given an opportunity, in confidence, to give his side of the story without prejudicing other processes”.
This week, provincial party spokesman Yonela Diko said he was unaware of the woman’s testimony. “We will only issue official comment once [the committee has] done their process.”
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa declined to comment. Committee member Frene Ginwala did not respond to messages.
This week, the party’s national disciplinary committee found Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs guilty of assaulting a former party employee. He was suspended for 18 months, with the sanction suspended.