Africa-Press – South-Africa. The former acting mayor of Tshwane, Abel Tau, believes the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to decline to prosecute him on charges of sexual abuse will bolster his court application to challenge his dismissal by ActionSA related to the “false allegations”.
Addressing the media on Thursday, Tau said the NPA had informed him that he would not be prosecuted for the alleged sexual harassment which led to him being fired by ActionSA.
“I am happy to announce that the National Prosecuting Authority decided not to prosecute following my legal representations on this matter. I’ve always maintained that this was a political ploy to deal with me, and I’m glad that this matter can now be put to rest,” said Tau.
The NPA’s Tshwane spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, confirmed the case had been dropped.
“He [Tau] made representations and, upon perusing the representations and consulting with the complainant, we then decided not to enroll the matter,” said Mahanjana.
Tau said it paved the way for the legal challenge of his dismissal from ActionSA, which was premised on the alleged sexual harassment case.
“My court case against ActionSA is still ongoing. It is public knowledge that my membership with ActionSA was terminated in November of last year. I’m today confirming that I have taken them to court. They have been delaying the process with unnecessary antics, but I am proceeding with the matter and will not be deterred,” said Tau.
National chairperson, Michael Beaumont attributed the delays in the court processes to Tau.
“Our legal team has informed us that the delays have always been with Able Tau because he indicated publicly that he was filing papers and then failed to do so for a month. He filed them recently, at the beginning of May, and ActionSA responded in a matter of days. We filed our replies and we have indicated to his attorney that there is information missing we have pointed out that which does not surprise us because most things that Tau does are half-baked.
“At the end of the day, we remain convinced that he will not take this issue to court. What I suspect he wants is the appearance of court proceedings.”
He added that when ActionSA dismissed Tau the party deliberately said it was not a competent body to make determinations on his criminal guilt or innocence and therefore we leave that issue to the court.
“What we found him guilty of is not a criminal offense it is the abuse of a position of leadership to cultivate a sexual relationship with someone with whom there was a power differential so whether or not the NPA declines to prosecute is completely irrelevant to that broader question,” said Beaumount.
In January, when Tau first indicated that he would be taking ActionSA to court, Beaumont, told News24 that Tau was entitled to a fair hearing.
Beaumont added:
Tau, on Thursday, took the opportunity to announce that he had formed his own party – The Transformation Alliance (TTA).
It comes after he, in January, announced a new party, called the United Africans Transformation (UAT).
Explaining the change in names, Tau said some people were not happy with the initial name.
“While leading the UAT, I was approached by a lot of people, who were not comfortable with the association of the UAT with a certain church, and the name that was my surname spelt backward,” said Tau.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
