Image: 123RF/Andreypopov
An ANC councillor in the Eastern Cape’s Raymond Mhlaba Municipality in Alice, appeared in court on Monday on allegations of raping a 21-year-old University of Fort Hare student.
The 48-year-old ward councillor of the Alice-based municipality, was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged Saturday night incident.
Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana said the incident took place at a house at Golf Course suburb of Alice. DispatchLIVE has reliably learnt that the house belongs to an ANC councillor in Amathole District Municipality.
Asked by Alice magistrate Mbokazi Radebe to read facts of the case, state prosecutor Zwelabathwa Majibana said: “It is alleged that the complainant was walking with two friends when the accused stopped his car and offered to drop them on campus at Fort Hare.
“Instead of going to Fort hare, he and his friends allegedly took them to a Golf Course house where one of his friends reside. He reportedly offered the complaint and her friends food, drinks and place to sleep.
“The friends refused to sleep and asked to be taken home. The accused drove the two friends, leaving the complaint passed out on a sofa. The accused dropped the friends of the complainant at Fort Hare instead of taking them to a house they wished to be dropped at.”
Majibana said: “Because the complainant drank alcohol, she had passed out on a sofa, she was drunk. In the early hours of the morning, she woke up to find herself naked.”
The accused’s lawyer, Msimelelo Qumntu, told magistrate Radebe that, apart from being arrested for public violence for taking part in anti-apartheid struggle in the 80s, the councillor had no previous convictions or pending cases.
The accused is still in court and is expected to take a stand after lunch.
The courtroom was packed to the rafters by women in ANC regalia and University of fort Hare students.
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Source:Daily DispatchLIVE
