ANC waits for court decision beforeacting on Sepale

The ANC in North West will not fire its disgraced ward councillor who is charged for sexually abusing young boys and producing child pornography just yet.

Speaking on the sidelines of Tebogo Sepale’s appearance at the Orkney magistrate’s court yesterday, the party’s provincial secretary Louis Diremelo told Sowetan that they wanted to wait for the accused’s bail application process to conclude before they can make a final decision on his future with the organisation.

Sepale, a ward councillor in Kanana township in the Matlosana municipality, is facing 11 charges which include two of statutory rape, sexual violation of a child, manufacturing child porn, rape and sexual intimidation following videos of him molesting boys which went viral on social media two weeks ago. Explicit screengrabs purported to be from him asking for sex from women who needed help from him were also shared online.

He has since been arrested and the party immediately suspended him before serving him with disciplinary charges while in custody.

The disciplinary hearing process was meant to start within two weeks after Sepale’s arrest, however, the court yesterday postponed his bail hearings to June 26 while he remains behind bars. This seemingly has caused a conundrum for the party as calls for his removal have grown louder on public platforms.

Diremelo told Sowetan the party wanted to tread carefully with Sepale’s matter and they did not want to “act on emotions” despite the ANC’s own step-aside policy aimed at removing party deployees who are charged with corruption and any other forms of wrongdoing that might bring put the party ANC into disreputebad light.

“We want to allow Sepale’s bail process to conclude first while we consult with our lawyers and his [lawyer] about the possible action we can take... We don’t want to act out of emotions and not consider the legalities. We also don’t want a situation where we fire him and then he gets bail and take us to the labour court for unfair dismissal.

“We believe that we have done our best to remove and have him step-aside by suspending him so that he doesn’t participate in the party’s activities. We are not protecting him as many people think. We are embarrassed by what he did and he is facing serious charges but we need to respect his rights as the accused and we also have to look at what our own constitution says,” said Diremelo.

He further added that the process of dealing with Sepale will include legal consultation and community participation.

“We’ll engage with our community members in Kanana and get their views about the situation and then make a decision," said Diremelo.

Sepale’s first two court appearances have been marred by protesters and some of his victims calling for him not to be granted bail.

ANC provincial spokesperson Tumelo Maruping said it wasn’t clear how the party will handle Sepale’s disciplinary process.

“We take those [criminal] charges very serious. We support the victims and we are not hoping for bail but as to how the disciplinary hearing is going to unfold, I would have to inquire with the provincial executive committee,” he said.

ANC chief whip in the Matlosana municipality Khayalethu Ndincede told Sowetan that he has recommended MMC responsible for local economic development councillor Moagi Kodisang to act in Sepale’s position.

Ndincede said when Sepale was charged with murder in December 2021, Kodisang was also appointed to act as councillor for ward 25. That murder charge was provisionally withdrawn pending DNA report.