Cape Town – His enemies might be plotting to destroy him - but he is unfazed, Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman told News24 in an exclusive interview.
He accepts the nature of politics, especially when "forces" try to take down a leader.
Fransman said while he is nowhere near perfect - with strengths and weaknesses like anyone else - it was still a "sad thing".
“It’s a very sad thing, that if there is a strategy to destroy a leader, which I accept because that is part of politics, it means that [people] are using everything possible.
“If you can’t take a person down, you play the man. There are those that tried to take me down at last year’s conference, but they failed. So now they are playing the man,” Fransman said.
Fransman is facing new allegations of nepotism levelled against him while also facing a sexual harassment allegation.
But, said Fransman, those behind the claims have simply wanted to add fuel to the fires burning around him and destroy his name.
The sexual harassment allegation came after a 20-year-old woman accused him of inappropriately touching her during a trip to the party’s celebrations in Rustenburg earlier this month.
He has eluded to “forces” behind the allegation, which he has vehemently denied.
Now the already embattled Fransman will have to defend himself against allegations relating to political interference in the appointment of the Cape Agulhas municipal manager in 2013.
The application to the Western Cape High Court by former municipal manager Reynold Stevens, to set aside Dean O’Neill’s appointment as municipal manager, will be heard on January 27. O'Neill is Fransman's brother-in-law.
Fransman said he had objected to O’Neill’s appointment but had been overruled on the basis of his work experience.
He said he was going to take the people behind these allegations to court for tarnishing his name.
He said while he had his weaknesses, nepotism was not one of them.
“It’s sad that they are bringing family to this fight, when it was meant to be politics.”
He said those who were trying to take him down needed to remember that it was not about him, but about the good of the organisation and they needed to focus on that.
Their hatred for him as a leader should not be so much that they were willing to jeopardise the party’s chances at the upcoming elections, he said.
“They have deliberately tried to throw further fuel on a fire that’s already there. It’s burning. And it is those individuals that run to the media with wrong information, that decreases the chances of the ANC at elections.”
He said the facts would speak for themselves in the matter, and he would fight the allegations with everything he had.
New arrogance is emerging from white racists
Apartheid was not properly dismantled after 1994, Fransman told News24. The country had, in fact, buried apartheid in a grave that was "way too shallow". It now meant that "sleeper racists" could re-emerge.
“I don’t believe the way we ... structured post '94 the process towards the dismantling of race was efficient. Therefore the environment gave racists [time] to become sleepers after ‘94 and it has now reared its ugly head.”
Fransman said the ANC needed to create a cultural revolution to break down the very ethos of the apartheid state.
He said the beneficiaries of apartheid were the very same people who were now calling for President Jacob Zuma to fall.
Rise in racism
Fransman said the party was intent on tackling the rise of racism in the country, focusing on the province.
He said this year had seen a lot of “sleeper racists” rising up, who had initially buried their natural inclinations.
Fransman said their fight against racism would include identifying businesses, farmers and municipalities who were biased against black people.
He said since the first nationwide "Zuma must fall" campaign in December, racism had reared its ugly head everywhere.
“There is an arrogance of white racists that starts to emerge. On December 16, the nation saw it was largely white racists that used media and other forms to try and create a position of getting the government to fall,” Fransman said.
Several "Zuma must fall" protests took place nationwide on December 16, which was sparked by Zuma's reshuffling of his cabinet and replacing then-finance minister Nhlanhla Nene with virtual unknown Des van Rooyen. Zuma eventually replaced Van Rooyen days later with a former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan.
Mentality
“But you are in a democracy where every five years there is an election? So why would you want to use strange means to get a democratic government to fall? There is enough space created for opposition to engage."
He said the fact that the De Klerk foundation had said some black South Africans displayed the "most virulent and dangerous racism", was not true.
“It essentially tells me that the mentality of those that are saying those things is the same mentality as that of Marike de Klerk, who had once referred to coloured people as a 'non-person',” Fransman said.
The ANC was founded on the principles of a non-racial, non-sexist democratic society. The issue of non-racialism was a very deep seated one to unbundle, he added.
'Zuma must fall' banner implies black people are sub human
The ANC in the Western Cape will stand firmly behind its councillors who were involved in the taking down of the “Zuma must fall” banner, Fransman has said.
The banner was erected in the Cape Town CBD last Friday by an advertising agency contracted by a “private entity”, and was taken down by ANC supporters on Saturday.
Following the fracas over the banner, the City of Cape Town this week resolved to investigate the conduct of any councillors who were involved.
Fransman said the party stood firmly behind their councillors, including ANC's Cape Metro chairperson and chief whip Xolani Sotashe‚ who led the banner removal on Saturday.
“We stand by comrade Sotashe, we say enough is enough. In fact, they were able to move very quickly on our councillors, but they were unable to move fast on the man behind them. That is unacceptable. We will support the youth league in their fight against racism,” Fransman said.
He said the person behind the “Zuma Must Fall” banner, who has remained anonymous, had done something like this before and the city was slow in acting against him.
He said there was an underlying message that black people were sub human and that was racism.
“We must always appreciate the fact that they will say all these bad things about the ANC, and in any case they will continue to do so.”
The “Zuma Must Fall” banner was a new level of negativity that should not be allowed, he said.
“The fact that a person doesn’t take ownership of putting up a Zuma Must Fall banner is suspect. How do you put up a Zuma Must Fall banner? They're going for a subtle coup d'état and we are saying we won’t allow that.”
The banner was replaced with the South African flag on Tuesday.
This will be our biggest election campaign yet
With only a few months left to the local government elections, the party has a lot of work to build up trust among its constituents, but Fransman believes it is possible.
The province is the only one governed by the opposition Democratic Alliance.
Fransman said there was opportunity for the ANC to grow, but the party had to work on clearing the decks first.
The party, which has been plagued by internal factions and divisions for years, lost the province to the DA in 2009, and has been working towards rebuilding voter confidence since then.
Unity
Fransman told News24 they needed to work on presenting a united front during the elective campaign and beyond.
“The only way the ANC can make a deep dent is through deeper coherence, to unify the movement in this province, and to reflect on the municipalities.”
He said they had identified 17 municipalities in the Western Cape that the party must govern post the 2016 elections.
“We think the rural areas are ripe for a takeover. My belief is that the coastal communities are ready, the farm communities are ready to reject the DA,” he said.
The party, however, would face a challenge in the Cape Flats, and they would be focusing aggressively on winning these residents over, Fransman said.
“We must get our acts together in the places we do govern,” he said.
Fransman said the Western Cape was a complex province because they had 52% of people from the coloured community, and an African constituency of about 33%.
“You also have a situation where it’s a highly cosmopolitan space. And it is a space where I believe had the most serious impact [in terms of] the apartheid scars.”
He said they were ready for the challenge.
This article first appeared as a series on News24.
