JOHANNESBURG – In a week that has seen the African National Congress (ANC) being lambasted for its choice of candidates to Parliament, the party has dug itself into even more mud.
During President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the southern townships of Johannesburg, there were two men who stood out.
Embattled ANC presidential head Zizi Kodwa and South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan joined Ramaphosa on the campaign trail, raising questions about the party’s seriousness about dealing with accusations of sexual assault leveled against its members.
Ramaphosa’s enthusiastic utterances that he is committed to the cause of South African women during an interview with a community radio station in Soweto seems feeble when one takes a closer look at his entourage.
The presence of Kodwa, who voluntarily stepped aside from his role as Ramaphosa’s spin doctor last month following serious allegations of rape, was ominous.
Kodwa, at the time, described the accusation as part of a dirty politics campaign.
Then it got worse.
In Riverlea, where Ramaphosa addressed a community hall packed with mainly women, Jordaan was the master of ceremonies, leading the conversation that the president had with the community.
In 2018, two women accused Jordaan of sexual offences.
The Safa boss was accused of sexual harassment by a 40-year-old author, who opened a case against him just a month after former ANC MP Jennifer Ferguson reported a case of rape to the police.
However, the cloud that hangs over the two men did not seem to be a bother for the president, who smiled and cheered at crowds while walking alongside them at respective venues during his campaign.
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