DA gives ANC memo demanding Fransman step down

15 January 2016 - 15:08 By Aphiwe Deklerk

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape wants African National Congress (ANC) leader Marius Fransman to step down as the official leader of the opposition in the provincial legislature. On Friday‚ the party led a protest to the Western Cape Provincial Legislature to hand over a memorandum to speaker Sharna Fernandez demanding that Fransman step down over allegations of sexual harassment.Fransman is under increasing political pressure‚ even from some in his own party‚ to step aside after a 20-year-old women he hired as his personal assistant laid a complaint of sexual harassment with the North West police last week.It is alleged that the 20-year-old was forced to sleep in the same bed as Fransman and that the ANC leader wrapped his arms around her‚ rubbed himself against her and touched her.When the women said she was uncomfortable with his action‚ it is alleged Fransman said it would be her “challenge” to overcome her discomfort if she wanted to make a success out of her career‚ and that she needed to be clinical and cold about it.The DA's memorandum‚ handed over by MP Shahid Esau‚ said the party was protesting in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of South Africans who had been victims of sexual and domestic abuse."Politicians of high office cannot use their fame and connections to make sex crime charges go away. We demand that Marius Fransman resign as leader of the opposition in the Western Cape‚" reads the memorandum.Asked if the DA was not applying double standards as it kept quiet when its MP Archibald Figlan was only handed a fine when the party found him guilty of sexual harassment last year‚ Esau said this was not the case."He was not sacked in the sense that he is still an MP‚ he went through [a disciplinary process]. We are saying the same here‚ we are not asking him [Fransman] to be sacked‚ he can remain as a member of Parliament but to be the face of the ANC in the legislature and the leader of the opposition‚ that position he should not hold‚" he said.Figlan was accused of sexual harassment over an incident during a protest against President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address‚ where he allegedly took the hand of a female DA member and placed it on his private parts.Fransman could not be reached for comment. He is understood to be in an ANC provincial executive committee meeting...

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