DA SEX PEST MP MUST BE EXPELLED

JUNE 10, 2015

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip is outraged by the Democratic Alliance’s decision to give its sex pest MP in the National Assembly, Archibald Figlan, a mere slap in the wrist for sexually harassing a female DA staff member earlier this year.

Archibald Figlan was found guilty by the DA’s internal disciplinary process after he forced one of the party’s female employees to touch his private parts during their protest march in February this year (see Cape Argus report).

However, instead of receiving a harsh sentence befitting such abhorrent, perverse conduct, the dishonourable DA MP got away with only a suspended sentence.

The DA’s casual attitude to an offence of such magnitude, which essentially shields the perpetrator and further humiliates the victim who has already suffered enough in the hands of this sex pest, is a gross travesty of justice and makes a mockery of the party’s commitment to the rights of women within and outside its ranks. The DA has missed an opportunity to send a strong message against women abuse and patriarchy by simply imposing the harshest sentence possible for an offence of this nature, which warrants a dismissal. 

The DA’s own disciplinary process outcome confirms that this MP is a pervert. It therefore boggles the mind why the party believes such a character should continue to serve the people of South Africa in this Parliament as an honourable member. 

It is such humiliatingly casual responses to such serious misconducts that result in many victims of sexual abuse and harassment in this country opting to suffer in silence instead of reporting them.

Having said that, we are however not surprised by the DA’s shocking decision, given how the party dismissively handled the sex-for-favours email scandal that was reported in the media on the verge of its elective congress in March.

As the ANC we will write Parliament’s Joint-Ethics committee, asking them to investigate if the legislature’s code of conduct for MPs, particularly ethical conducts expected of all legislators, has not been transgressed.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, June 11 2015