President Jacob Zuma staged a public display of support yesterday for the briefly sidelined Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman.

The pair wore matching leather jackets as they embraced and posed for pictures on the local government election campaign trail in Philippi.It was the first time Fransman had taken part in a high-profile ANC event since being asked to quit as Cape ANC leader earlier this year for allegedly sexually harassing his assistant, Louisa Wynand, when she accompanied him to the party's birthday celebrations in Rustenburg.Police are still investigating the allegations of sexual harassment. ANC national executive committee member Nomvula Mokonyane said Fransman had returned to work as the party's provincial chairman."The issues have been resolved," she said. Asked if that meant Fransman was off the hook, Mokonyane said: "Yes."But later there was confusion about his return to the political frontline after ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said Mokonyane had no authority to make statements on the subject. "That [subject] will not be communicated by Mokonyane. A decision has to be taken and that decision has not been taken. She does not have the authority to communicate on the matter," Mantashe said.He added that the ANC's integrity committee had recommended that Fransman face a disciplinary committee and that had yet to happen.Asked about his presence at the election rally, at which Zuma spoke to people on the Cape Flats, Fransman said: "I am here to support [Xolani] Sotashe as the mayoral candidate."ANC offers bursary to woman charging Fransman with sexual assaultLouisa Wynand‚ the young woman who laid sexual assault charges against Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman‚ was allegedly offered a full bursary by the party.Zuma told a crowd in Khayelitsha yesterday that they were suffering under DA rule."Here in the Western Cape you live a hard life because the ANC is not in charge."You are ruled by other people who do not care about you; they only care about themselves," the president said.The DA-run Western Cape and City of Cape Town were divided in two, he said, with some areas for the rich and others for the poor.Without mentioning them by name, he hinted that the EFF was a collection of angry people kicked out of the ANC for ill-discipline.The DA, he said, was a "child of the National Party"."We cannot be ruled by an offspring of apartheid," he said...