Truman Prince must go as new assault charge scandal emerges

30 January 2016

The DA is in possession of information that Truman Prince, the ANC's Executive Mayor of Beaufort West, has had assault charges laid against him for allegedly assaulting a uniformed police officer in Leeu Gamka in the Karoo. Charges of assault were laid against Mayor Prince by the officer at the Leeu Gamka SAPS, and the DA is in possession of the case number.

Mr Prince had allegedly been travelling in a black Mercedes Benz, registered to SAFA, on whose executive board he serves, when he was pulled over for speeding. It was then that he allegedly assaulted the officer.

This is the third incident in less than three months where senior ANC officials in the Western Cape are charged with assault.

As in the case of Marius Fransman and Faiez Jacobs, the ANC must immediately suspend Mayor Prince or be seen to support him as he lurches from scandal to scandal.

Last week, the DA also laid a charge of corruption against Mayor Prince for the illicit party funding scandal he finds himself in, where letters from his office request government contractors to make donations to the ANC.

The criminality within the Western Cape ANC has never been more pronounced. Now things have reached a point where criminal charges are laid for an ANC executive mayor assaulting an officer of the law.

I call on the ANC in Luthuli House to immediately suspend Truman Prince and to stop protecting criminal conduct.

The people of the Western Cape and of South Africa must not be exposed to the risks of an ANC that so brazenly protects criminality.

Statement issued by Phumzile Van Damme, DA National Spokesperson, 30 January 2016

Update:

Truman Prince assault charges: more details emerging

31 January 2016

The DA can today confirm that charges laid against the ANC's Beaufort West Executive Mayor, Truman Prince, are for the assault of a female traffic police officer.

The DA has also learned that video footage of the incident exists and that it will be used against Mayor Prince in criminal proceedings.

A doctor's report of the bad injuries sustained by the female officer will also serve as evidence during the criminal proceedings.

Assault charges (for which the DA has the case number) were laid against Prince for allegedly assaulting the female uniformed officer in Leeu Gamka after having been pulled over for speeding. Mr Prince had allegedly been traveling in a vehicle registered to SAFA, on whose executive board he serves.

This is but the latest in a string of scandals in which ANC Mayor Truman Prince is central:

In 2005 he was suspended as municipal manager and member of the ANC after a television program revealed how he approached teenage girls for sex. The suspension was later lifted.

In 2010 he was pulled off the road by a traffic officer for reckless driving. He was later found guilty of drunken driving and fined a meager R2000. His license was not revoked.

In 2014 he was again investigated for drunken driving after crashing into a truck in Donkin Road in Beaufort West. So far nothing had come of this investigation, despite video footage of the incident being in the public domain.

Last week, the DA laid a charge of corruption against ANC Mayor Prince for blatantly attempting to bend procurement processes so that some of the proceeds could go toward the ANC's election campaign in Beaufort West.

It is shameful that an individual with such a record of criminality could be in a position of public office, not to mention the ANC Executive Mayor of a large town.

If the ANC in the Western Cape is truly serious about cleaning up its tattered image of criminality, it will immediately suspend Truman Prince. If not, the will be seen to support his scandalous and criminal behaviour.

This latest incident where an officer, a female officer at that, was allegedly assaulted by the ANC executive mayor, can not be and will not be overlooked.

The ANC cannot claim to be serious about women's rights, when it houses serious abusers of women's rights. When Marius Fransman was recently charged with sexual assault of a female employee, it took the ANC nearly a month before acting against him.

This cannot happen again.

The ANC in Luthuli House must immediately suspend Truman Prince and stop protecting criminal conduct.

Statement issued by Phumzile Van Damme, DA National Spokesperson, 31 January 2016