Failure to act: Sipho Maselane, African National Congress (ANC) Ward Councillor for Winterveld

Sipho Maselane is accused, along with another man, of raping and robbing two women in 2014 and another two in 2015. Two of his victims were adult women in their thirties while the other two were aged fourteen at the time of the alleged rapes. While Maselane was arrested in 2015 and granted bail of R2 000, his accomplice has disappeared. The case has been ongoing in the Ga-Rankuwa magistrates court for over a year now.

Even though he had been charged with four counts of rape, one count of assault and four counts of armed robbery, Maselane was still nominated as a councillor in the 2016 local government elections – and in the face of community opposition. He is currently the councillor for Ward 9. Media reports indicate that the ANC is not planning to act on the matter until after the criminal trial – if they act at all. Tshwane ANC spokesperson Teboho Joala was reported as saying that “the ANC had confidence in Maselane and would only act if necessary after the final judgement.”

It is hard to understand how Maselane could even have been nominated to stand for election as a councillor, given the provisions of the ANC’s Constitution. Acts of Misconduct contained in the Constitution including behaving in a manner which brings, or could bring the ANC into disrepute; and engaging in sexual or physical abuse of women or children, or the abuse of office to obtain sexual or any other undue advantage from members or others. The Constitution allows for the suspension of members when taking into regard the ‘nature and seriousness of the alleged violation or act of misconduct and when considering the impact of the alleged violation or misconduct on the repute of the organisation.’

Yet by not immediately suspending Maselane, or making his behaviour the subject of an internal investigation, the Tshwane ANC created the impression that it does not consider the allegations of rape against Maselane to be serious, nor to bring the organization into disrepute.

There is also no requirement in South African law to wait for the outcome of criminal justice system processes before taking internal disciplinary action. Processes can and should run concurrently – especially in a situation like this when the charges are so serious.

The Maselane case also illustrates how selectively the ANC applies its disciplinary policies – a theme that will recur when we consider other cases in this series.

In early 2016 Louisa Wynand laid charges of sexual assault against Marius Fransman, the leader of the Western Cape ANC. Even though the police had not (and still have not) finalised their investigation into the charges of sexual assault laid by Ms Wynand, the ANC’s National Disciplinary Committee found Fransman guilty of misconduct in November 2016 and suspended his membership of the organisation for five years. However, it took a great deal of negative publicity to get the case taken up, suggesting that it was bad press, rather than a commitment to ethical principles, which motivated action on this matter. But the likelihood of a public outcry seems limited in the Maselane matter. While Fransman held a senior position in an important part of the country, Maselane is a local counsellor in an impoverished, rural backwater.