DA ignores its own sexual harassment policy
GBV activists decry party’s failure to act against Fritz
The DA has apparently opted to ignore its own sexual harassment policy in the wake of damaging sexual transgressions levelled against the party’s Western Cape leader Albert Fritz, much to the chagrin of gender activists and the party’s political opponents.
The official opposition has come under fire for failing to act against Fritz, who is the organisation’s Western Cape MEC for community safety, even though the party has a firm policy on sexual delinquency.
The policy requires “the DA … to take appropriate action” when “instances of sexual harassment occur and are brought to the attention of the DA”.
Curiously, the policy does not form part of the party’s constitution or code of conduct.
“It is the duty of the DA leadership, public representatives and DA members to maintain a working and political environment in which the dignity of colleagues, DA staff members and DA members is respected. Victims of sexual harassment must not feel that their grievances are ignored or trivialised, or fear reprisals,” says the party’s policy.
But the party appears hesitant to haul Fritz over the coals and has instead allowed him to voluntarily step aside pending the outcome of an investigation launched by Western Cape premier Alan Winde, who suspended him from his executive (as MEC) last week.
Winde has been tight-lipped about the reasons behind Fritz’s suspension and only confirmed that it was related to sexual misconduct when rumours started circulating. It has since emerged that all the complainants against Fritz are DA members.
DA federal chairperson Helen Zille said the party had not acted because the complainants only laid their matter with Winde and not the party.
“The complainants opted to lay a complaint with the premier and not with the party. Albert Fritz stood down from his position. We are allowing the investigation to run its course. We will act appropriately once it has made a finding,” she said.
Asked to explain why the party was not using its internal processes to deal with allegations against Fritz, Zille maintained that the DA, through a “protection officer”, could have intervened had the complainants reached out to them.
As to why the sexual harassment policy is not built into the party’s constitution, Zille said: “Why would a sexual harassment policy be in the constitution? Proper attitudes and behaviour preclude sexual harassment and attitudes or misconduct, surely?”
Bafana Khumalo, the co-executive director of Gender Justice, said it was “extremely” disappointed with how the DA was handling the Fritz matter.
“How come you suspend the official from the government but you fail to suspend him from the party’s activities? All parties always speak against gender-based violence [GBV] but they fail to act,” he said.
Khumalo said most parties did not act against their members accused of sexual misconduct, saying the DA was irresponsible on the Fritz matter.
“Violence against women and children is a burning issue in the country, and these parties make it worse, as they ignore this issue, they hide these issues under the carpet. We have leaders who fail to execute their powers against their members, they have to adhere to precautionary suspensions,” he said.
Leader of the official opposition in the Western Cape legislature, Cameron Dugmore, said Winde was busy doing damage control for the DA, adding that although the allegations were serious, the timing showed that they were leaked by factions to oust Fritz.
“The premier is refusing to ask the investigator to go back to 2012 when Fritz was MEC for social development because this would expose many leaders in the DA who knew about the sexual abuse. So, in essence factions in the DA are using GBV for political battles, not to root out the crime and protect the victims. The silence of the DA is deafening,” he said.
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All these parties always speak against GBV but they fail to act