Pretoria - City of Tshwane council speaker Dr Muruwa Makwarela will probe the allegations of attempted rape against ActionSA provincial secretary and MMC for Human Settlements, Abel Tau as soon as he receives a formal complaint from council.
Makwarela yesterday shed light on how the process would unfold. He was tasked by the coalition partners in the metro to probe Tau’s alleged action in terms of the councillors’ code of conduct.
He told the Pretoria News that there was no deadline for the investigation, and “council must formally complain to the speaker” before he could act.
“The sooner it (complaint) is done the better,” he said.
The complaint is expected to be formally laid by the coalition partners during an ordinary council sitting next week. “I will pick it up from there, either his own party will advance the complaint to me or the coalition partners. Our agreement is that we must be transparent and be accountable.
“Remember that there are four processes taking place; his political party ActionSA has already suspended him, the mayor suspended him too, and because he is a councillor that’s where I come in. And there is also an SAPS investigation,” Makwarela said.
On Monday, mayor Randall Williams announced a coalition partner decision to place Tau on forced leave after learning from a news report that he was accused of attempting to rape his friend’s wife.
According to the report, the incident allegedly happened at Tau’s residence in Pretoria after he had a drinking session with his friend.
The friend, also an ActionSA member, was allegedly binging on alcohol with Tau before the alleged incident.
It was reported that the friend passed out because he had had too many drinks. Tau, it was said, decided to call his wife to fetch him.
On her arrival Tau allegedly made sexual advances towards the woman, who turned him down. He allegedly tried to force himself on her, but the woman allegedly managed to fend Tau off.
Tau told the Pretoria News that the news report was riddled with “lots of untruths”.
While he was reluctant to comment because the matter was under investigation, he denied claims that he invited the woman to his house, saying she was called by her husband.
Yesterday, the EFF in Tshwane welcomed the decision to place Tau on forced leave and called for law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations “objectively without fear or favour”.
Pretoria News