Cape Town - A Western Cape MEC dramatically falling from grace in a highly-publicised sexual harassment scandal, drama over a BMW state vehicle and mourning the death of a Nobel Peace prize winner whose voice helped slay apartheid.
These are some of the key events that dominated this year's news headlines in the Western Cape.
The year began with the interring of the late Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu’s ashes. Tutu, whose leadership helped abolish apartheid, died at 90 in Cape Town on December 26, 2021.
The day after his funeral, on January 1, a large fire ripped through Parliament, causing its chambers and roof to collapse. A preliminary report from Cape Town’s fire and rescue service showed that the buildings’ sprinkler system did not activate during the blaze.
Zandile Christmas Mafe, 49, was arrested in connection with the blaze. He stands accused of possessing explosives, stealing laptops, terrorism and breaching security laws.
In March, Albert Fritz was fired as the MEC for Community Safety after a report by Advocate Jennifer Williams found that sexual harassment allegations against Fritz by four women over a four-year period were substantiated.
The women levelled eight claims of sexual misconduct that ranged from inappropriate sexual comments, touches, kisses and sex that sometimes occurred on work excursions.
Fritz resigned as a member of the provincial legislature (MPL) after the scandal.
Meanwhile, Patricia De Lille’s GOOD Party was rocked by a sex scandal when Weekend Argus revealed that the party’s campaign for the Witzenberg by-election in April allegedly included booze, skinny dipping, and sex parties.
GOOD volunteers wrote detailed statements describing how MPL and national campaign organiser Shaun August and Witzenberg deputy mayor Felicity Klazen, both married, allegedly spent their time “sexing” and “partying too much” instead of rallying for votes. Volunteers also described acts of “gehoerdery” (acts of fornication).
The election campaign, which cost the party R200 000, was described as a “disaster of note” after GOOD received only 10% of the votes – a 2% drop compared to last year’s municipal elections result in that same ward.
The scandal ended in a parliamentary session and is still under investigation, and the probe is expected to be concluded in the new year.
In May, ANC leader and erstwhile “poo protester” Andile Lili was found guilty of inciting supporters of Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement to kill murderers and rapists.
Over the last few years, Lili has made headlines for being convicted of throwing poo at the Cape Town International Airport. He also accused fellow ANC leaders of trying to assassinate him in 2014, was kicked out of the party and co-founded a civil society movement, Ses’khona.
Even though he had a conviction for incitement to murder and common assault, he remained an MPL.
Lili’s counterpart Danville Smith was not so lucky and had to adhere to the party’s step-aside rule.
Smith was charged with theft of motor vehicles and fraud along with two other suspects.
He was released on R10 000 bail after he appeared in the Vredendal Magistrate’s Court in June. However, the case is still ongoing.
Weekend Argus reported that Smith and his cronies allegedly operated as a syndicate.
The legislature became the centre for more drama after Weekend Argus revealed that its deputy speaker Beverley Schäfer had been hauled before it’s conduct committee for an investigation.
The probe related to complaints that she refused to downgrade her luxury state-funded BMW after her six-month stint as MEC for Economic Opportunities ended.
Schäfer was found guilty and slapped with an R17 800 fine. In addition, her deputy speaker privileges were suspended for seven days and her right to sit in on parliamentary debates or committees.
Her former boss, Masizole Mnqasela, was also investigated by the conduct committee. This after he allegedly hired an external law firm to probe the conduct of Schäfer, instead of using the legislature’s internal legal team.
An investigation into Mnqasela's discrepancies in the declaration of his interest in a family trust was launched and the committee found him guilty. However, he decided to appeal.
The DA terminated Mnqasela’s membership. Former MEC for Transport Daylin Mitchell replaced him.
The Western Cape's official unemployment rate increased by 2.3 percentage points to 27.5% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter. The Western Cape Government and Police Minister Bheki Cele continue to feud over who can better police the province as crime spirals out of control.
Weekend Argus.