PHUTI MOSOMANE
THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) North West Provincial Secretary, Kopano Konopi, expressed disappointment at the barbaric conduct of ANC councillor Tebogo Sepale in Ward 25 of the Matlosana Local Municipality.
It has been reported that the councillor has been sexually assaulting young boys and girls in exchange for services.
In addition, he has recorded these heinous acts and shared them on social media.
The 43-year-old Sepale’s party membership has been suspended with immediate effect after several videos of him engaging in sexual acts with a young man and women went viral.
Since then, a number of women have come forward with more accusations that he demands sexual favours in exchange for job opportunities in the municipality.
“As COSATU we view this as disgraceful, an act that must be condemned with the highest level of disdain by society at large. People of this calibre should not be allowed in society.”
“It is also shameful that he broke the trust of his community which entrusted him with the responsibility of uplifting it by electing him as their representative in the council. They expected him to advocate for their rights. Instead, he took advantage of the vulnerable in the very same community. The deployment of shoddy characters by the ANC is clearly an indication that the organisation, particularly in the North West, is failing to implement its constitution and policies as guided by its national office,” Konopi said.
He said Cosatu welcomed the swift action by the law enforcement agencies for arresting him.
“We hope that a proper and thorough investigation will be conducted which will lead to conviction. We call on the ANC to summarily dismiss this person as a member because it cannot continue to claim to be a leader of society if it hoards members who abuse society,” he added.
Cosatu further called on the ANC to conduct thorough vetting of all its public representatives at all levels and also apply the same principle to leadership of the organisation in all its structures.
“We believe this will assist it rid itself of these dodgy characters who occupy the seats within the organisation. We are aware that this is not the first incident implicating the deployees of the movement, hence we are calling for drastic action to be taken by the organisation itself to avoid further ruin to its reputation,” he said.
Sepale is facing 11 provisional charges; two for statutory rape, three for the violation of a child with consent, one for manufacturing pornographic material, four for rape and one for sexual intimidation.
He was arrested and will remain in police custody until May 17.
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