Jonas White has been axed and expelled from the party after the provincial ANC found him guilty of sexual misconduct and fraud.
|||Western Cape - Controversial Cederberg mayor Jonas White has been axed and expelled from the party after the provincial ANC found him guilty of six charges of sexual misconduct and one of fraud.
White is alleged to have sent pornographic images to his deputy, Lorna Scheepers. He also reportedly offered her a private trip for the two of them to Durban, to be paid for with municipal funds.
Scheepers lodged the complaints against White with the ANC and the police.
White was charged in April on six counts of sexual harassment and one of fraud and corruption at an internal ANC disciplinary hearing. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
White has 21 days to appeal against the party’s ruling.
The DA’s Bokkie Geyer welcomed the ANC’s decision, saying: “You got rid of White, now eradicate the rest of the rot.”
He said the DA had contacted the public protector three times last year to report cases of maladministration, financial mismanagement and corruption in the ANC-led municipality. White had continued to act as mayor while his hearing was under way.
“Getting rid of White is only the beginning. The rot in the Cederberg Municipality filtered down from the top and infiltrated every fibre of the municipality. Unless the full extent of the corruption and mismanagement that took place there is exposed, proper service delivery and clean administration will never become a reality for the people of Cederberg,” said Geyer.
anél .lewis@inl.co.za
Cape Argus