ANC’s Jacobs back at work but criminal case looms

ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs might be back at work, but the man he is accused of assaulting says he will not drop a criminal case against him.

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Cape Town - ANC Western Cape provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs might once again be back at work, but the man he is accused of assaulting says he will not drop the criminal case against him.

Late on Wednesday, the ANC’s national disciplinary committee chairperson, Susan Shabangu, announced that Jacobs had been found guilty and expelled from the party for 18 months, which was suspended for three years on condition he was not found guilty of a similar offence.

Jacobs was found guilty of assaulting ANC staffer Wesley Seale in November last year. The former researcher was pictured on Facebook with a bloodied ear, soon after his altercation with Jacobs, which was allegedly over Seale’s failure to deliver a political report that his boss would present to the ANC’s provincial working committee.

Seale has since resigned from the ANC in the Western Cape.

The ANC’s NDC said while it was wrong of Jacobs to assault the office worker, he was sorry for his actions and “is capable of being rehabilitated”.

In the 17-page judgement, Shabangu said the ANC is a voluntary political organisation and persons join expectating their physical safety would be respected and protected.

“Assaulting another member is a very serious act of misconduct. Moreover, an act of assault committed in the workplace is seen as very serious because of the harm that is or could be caused to workplace harmony,” a statement issued by the NDC read.

However, the committee took into account that Jacobs regretted his action and as such found that “expulsion or outright suspension would be harsh and inappropriate sanctions”.

Barely a day after this announcement by Shabangu, Jacobs was back at the ANC’s provincial office in the CBD, attending meetings with officials, according to the party’s provincial spokesperson, Jabu Mfusi.

“The provincial officials will meet and they will guide us (with regards to the criminal investigation against Jacobs),” said Mfusi.

ANC Western Cape chairperson Marius Fransman remains estranged from the party after he was called on by the party to step aside amid a sex scandal in which a 21-year-old Stellenbosch woman – who had travelled with him to the party’s birthday celebrations in January – laid a criminal complaint of sexual harassment against him.

On Thursday, ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the party’s integrity committee had not yet ruled on Fransman’s matter.

The ANC appointed Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba and Sue van der Merwe as caretakers to take charge of the party, while Fransman was replaced by his deputy Khaya Magaxa.

Both Fransman and Jacobs did not respond to numerous requests for comment on Thursday.

Seale, who laid a criminal complaint against Jacobs, said: “(The case) continues. He is appearing on May 4 again.”

And while the party had not yet contacted him about the outcome of Jacobs’s disciplinary hearing, Seale said he would be open to meeting the party’s provincial leadership.

The matter is now with the National Prosecuting Authority.

“I’m a member of the ANC. If the ANC calls me to a meeting, no problem, but the criminal case continues, it’s a matter between Mr Jacobs and the State, not Wesley Seale and Mr Jacobs,” said Seale.

Party insiders had claimed that the ANC’s provincial executive was split between supporters of its suspended chairperson, Fransman, and Jacobs, who were on opposing slates when the party’s branch delegates chose a new leadership in July last year.

quinton.mtyala@inl.co.za

Cape Times and Daily Voice