ANC expels Chief Whip over sexual harassment claims

He will also be forbidden to stand for public office or publicly represent the ANC for three years. According to a report on the Mail & Guardian Online site, Asmal said that while the NDC decision was final and binding, and not subject to appeal, it could be reviewed by the ANC\'s national executive committee. Asmal could also not say whether Goniwe\'s accuser – a 21-year-old administrative assistant in the ANC parliamentary office – would be compensated. Goniwe is alleged to have asked his accuser to have sex with him after she had helped serve dinner to guests at his home on October 25. When she refused, he allegedly told her: ‘I thought you were a real Xhosa girl. How can you say no to your Chief Whip as if I am an ordinary man?’ Full report on the Mail & Guardian Online site

The ANC had ‘acted correctly’, said DA chief whip Douglas Gibson, describing Goniwe\'s expulsion as the culmination of an increasingly controversial term of office. ‘The ANC needs to explain, however, why it is that Mr Goniwe has been expelled for his crime before being found guilty by a court of law, whereas the convicted Travelgate criminals are still sitting in Parliament, some of them as whips,’ he added in a report on the IoL site. Cosatu, however, said the NDC would not have reached its conclusion unless there was very clear evidence of misconduct. It hoped the verdict would send the message that sexual harassment and other abuse of women would not be tolerated, and encourage other victims to come forward. Full report on the IoL site