President Jacob Zuma staged a public display of support on Thursday for sidelined Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman.

The pair wore matching leather jackets as they embraced and posed for selfies on the municipal election campaign trail in Philippi.It was the first time Fransman had taken part in a high-profile ANC event since being asked to “step aside” earlier this year for allegedly sexually harassing his assistant‚ Louisa Wynand‚ when she accompanied him to the party’s birthday celebrations in Rustenburg.National executive committee member Nomvula Mokonyane later told The Times that Fransman had officially returned to work as provincial chairman.“He is back in the ANC as the chair ... the issues have been resolved,” she said. Asked if that meant Fransman was totally off the hook, Mokonyane said yes.But confusion emerged later about his return to the political front line after ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said Mokonyane had no authority to make statements on the matter.“That (matter) 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 told The Times.He said the ANC integrity committee had recommended that Fransman face the disciplinary committee, and that had not yet happened.Asked about his presence at the campaign, where Zuma interacted with community members in the Cape Flats, Fransman said: “I am here to support (Xolani) Sotashe as the mayoral candidate.”Wynand declined to comment but promised to issue a statement later. Police are still investigating the charge of sexual harassment.Zuma told a crowd in Khayelitsha yesterday that they were suffering under Democratic Alliance 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,” he 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 indiscipline. The DA, he said, was a child of the National Party.“Have we forgotten where we come from? We cannot be ruled by an offspring of apartheid,” he said.Earlier, Zuma went from door to door in Philippi, where he told residents that unlike citizens of China and India, South Africans were not in charge of their economy.Khungeka Ngengwana’s house in Siyahlala informal settlement was the first Zuma visited.The 56-year-old lives in a shack with a family of four. She said she told Zuma about their struggle as unemployed people.“I also told him that this shack leaks when it’s raining,” she said.Another resident, Nomonde Maxekwana, said the president told her that it was because Cape Town was ruled by Helen Zille that she was still living in a shack.Mokonyane said the ANC had spent more than R1-billion on its campaign for the local government elections on August 3.“Remember, we do posters for candidates, we do billboards, we have these trucks. We have money for food for volunteers [and] we have list conferences,” said Mokonyane, the party’s head of elections.“The ANC invests a lot of money, other than just the T-shirts.”The party has put up massive election billboards at Cape Town International Airport, some bearing Zuma’s face...