MESULI KAMA
CAPE TOWN - Albert Fritz, the former MEC of Community Safety, became the third consecutive DA provincial leader to be removed unceremoniously from office.
It seems as if all DA provincial leaders who fall out of favour with Jean-Pierre Smith and the influential white boys’ club will bite the dust one way or the other.
The removal of all three former leaders followed the same modus operandi, and all three had Jean-Pierre Smith’s hand in them.
In January, JP Smith, Mayoral Committee member for Safety and Security in the City of Cape Town, was quoted in the media as confirming he had prior knowledge of the allegations of sexual misconduct against Albert Fritz and that he had advised one of the complainants to report the matter to the Premier for further investigation.
If Smith wanted justice for the young vulnerable girls who were allegedly abused by the powerful interim DA provincial leader and Community Safety MEC, he would have advised them to report the matter to the police before approaching the Premier.
Premier Alan Winde corroborated Smith’s version of events at a joint committee meeting in the Legislature when he said he had received a call from Smith in November to bring the allegations of sexual misconduct against Fritz to his attention.
The above version of events proves what has been widely reported in the media - that Premier Winde and other senior DA leaders and government officials had prior knowledge of the alleged sex scandals involving Fritz but turned a blind eye for months.
There is no doubt that Fritz’s scandals were known in DA circles even before he was elected interim provincial leader and appointed MEC of Community Safety.
They sat together in the cabinet bosberaad between November and January and assigned Fritz tasks while they knew very well that he had a dark cloud of the alleged sexual assault of young girls in his offices hanging over him.
The matter must be reported to the police immediately, or Smith, Alan Winde, and all other DA leaders with knowledge of Fritz's scandals will be accomplices to Fritz’s alleged sex crimes.
The fact that all those who have knowledge of these developments refuse to report the matter to the police may give credence to Fritz’s claims of a political witch-hunt.
The timing of the reporting of the allegations is suspect. In December, the DA announced that Dan Plato would be sworn in as a member of the Provincial Legislature to replace Bonginkosi Madikizela. Surely, Smith had full knowledge of these plans in November when he reported the alleged Fritz misconduct to the Premier.
The so-called Safety Plan couldn’t be effective in addressing GBV and Femicide in the province as the two senior leaders entrusted with its implementation were entangled in a web of scandals. While one is abusing resources to spy and plot the downfall of fellow DA leaders, the other allegedly targeted and attacked young female DA members employed in his office.
The third quarter crime statistics for 2021/2022 showed that murder and sexual offences decreased by 6, 9% and 10, 7%, respectively.
In real figures, though, 1056 murders were recorded in the province, and 1909 sexual offences were reported, including 1307 rape cases and 433 sexual assault cases.
In a province with such a high prevalence of GBV and Femicide, we have a senior DA leader and MEC facing allegations of sexual assault against young girls and a Mayco Member for Safety and Security, who withheld such critical information to use it as his pocket knife in the DA factional battles.
The DA should shoulder the blame for this whole fracas. The DA deployed Albert Fritz as a MEC and never acted against him despite these matters being reported to it.
We know there were soured relations between Fritz and Smith and that the poor coordination in the implementation of the Western Cape Safety Plan may have resulted from this.
In the execution of the safety plan, former MEC Fritz, a senior DA leader, was reduced to a mere bystander and a ceremonial MEC, while Jean-Pierre Smith was running the show.
The bad vibes between the two and the constant jostling for power may have contributed to the failures of the so-called Safety Plan.
The whole Fritz debacle has proved Smith is not fit to hold office and is not the correct person to continue to lead the implementation of the Western Cape Safety Plan.
The DA must do the right thing and remove him from this position. Also, he owes the public a full explanation of when he first heard of the allegations and why he did not report them to the police.
In addition, the DA should instruct Premier Alan Winde and Smith to report what they know about the Fritz scandal to the police.
* Mesuli Kama is ANC Member of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature and Spokesperson on Community Safety
Cape Times