Sex pest is Mbeki ally

The disgraced and sacked former ANC chief whip and sex pest, Mbulelo Goniwe, is being ‘protected” by a long and protracted disciplinary process so that he can attend the national conference in Polekwane as an ANC member, party insiders say.

Goniwe, one of President Thabo Mbeki’s strongest allies, was expelled from the ANC last year after the party’s national disciplinary committee, headed by Kader Asmal, found him guilty of sexual harassment.

The committee included Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya, Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Susan Shabangu and Limpopo Economic Development Minister Collins Chabane.

It stripped him of his chief whip job and MP status and kicked him out of the party for three years after parliamentary intern Nomawele Njongo gave evidence of sexual harassment.

Although the committee said its decision was ‘binding and final”, the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) overturned the finding. The NEC ordered that Goniwe’s case be heard afresh and that he be reinstated as an ANC member.

The Mail & Guardian spoke to three senior ANC MPs this week, who said Goniwe’s ‘rehearing”, which started in July and continues to drag on, is an attempt by Mbeki to enable Goniwe to attend the ANC conference in Polokwane in December.

‘It is unheard of that disciplinary proceedings should last so many months — especially if you bear in mind that the man has been found guilty already by the ANC’s own disciplinary committee. It is extraordinary and it is simply an attempt to let the process continue until after the national congress. The president himself intervened because Goniwe is a strong political ally,” one of the MPs said.

Another MP confirmed Mbeki’s intervention in the Goniwe retrial.

‘Goniwe has always been the president’s lieutenant and Mbeki is loyal to him and protecting him. But he can’t be seen to protect a man accused of sexual harassment because he will alienate women. This is a deliberate strategy to drag the process out until after congress,” the MP said.

Vytjie Mentor, the ANC’s parliamentary caucus chair, is said to have given damning evidence against Goniwe when she was called by the new disciplinary hearing — chaired by former MP Laloo Chiba, ANC chairperson and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and two other ANC members.

The M&G has learned that ‘at least one other member of Parliament” laid charges of sexual harassment against Goniwe. ‘Goniwe is very reckless with women — there is an MP who has his child. He has a big problem when it comes to women,” a senior MP said.

When the NEC heard Goniwe’s appeal against his suspension, it found that the disciplinary process was flawed — allegedly because Asmal told a press conference that the 10-page report accusing Goniwe of sexual harassment was ‘cogent” and that ‘there is strong prima facie evidence that warrants a disciplinary hearing in terms of the ANC constitution”.

An ANC insider said the NEC found that Asmal, in saying this, showed prejudice prior to hearing Goniwe’s side of the story.

‘The NEC found that Asmal’s disciplinary process was flawed procedurally and that the matter should be reheard because Asmal said there was strong prima facie evidence against Goniwe. Now, if there wasn’t strong prima facie evidence, why have a disciplinary hearing at all? Goniwe now has his membership back and will go to Polokwane and that’s what the president wants because he is such a staunch Mbeki-man,” a third senior MP told the M&G.

The NEC, in overturning Goniwe’s case, decided that it should be reheard by NEC members, including Mathews Phosa and Penuell Maduna.

This committee, which apparently has not met yet, reinstated Goniwe’s membership and suggested that the new disciplinary committee hear Goniwe’s case.

ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said he did not know why ‘the process is dragging on, because I don’t have all the facts”.

‘The NEC found that the process of stripping Goniwe of his membership was unfair and we felt the process was flawed. I don’t know how long this process is going to take,” he said. He referred questions to the office of the ANC secretary general, Kgalema Motlanthe.

Motlanthe was accused recently by ANC members of being instrumental in preventing Goniwe’s full reinstatement as a party member because of his support for Mbeki. They saidMotlanthe is backing Jacob Zuma in the raging succession battle.

Asmal, who chaired the first disciplinary hearing, refused to comment.