Eastern Cape ANC councillor in court for allegedly raping Fort Hare student - report | News24

An ANC councillor from the Raymond Mhlaba Municipality in Alice, Eastern Cape, appeared in court on Monday accused of raping a 21-year-old University of Fort Hare student, according to a media report.

The 48-year-old ward councillor was arrested on Saturday in connection with the rape in Alice, the Daily Dispatch reported on Monday.

READ | ANC councillor arrested for allegedly raping girl, 14, in Eastern Cape

According to Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana, the two are alleged to have been at a house in the area when the rape occurred on Saturday, Kinana told News24.

During court proceedings, State prosecutor Zwelabathwa Majibana said it was alleged that the complainant was walking with two friends when the accused stopped his car and offered to drop them on Fort Hare campus, the Daily Dispatch reported.

The accused and his friends took the students to a house where he offered them food, drinks and a place to sleep.

"The friends refused to sleep and asked to be taken home. The accused drove the two friends, leaving the complainant passed out on a sofa. The accused dropped the friends of the complainant at Fort Hare, instead of taking them to a house they had wished to be dropped at," Majibana was quoted as saying.

"Because the complainant drank alcohol, she had passed out on a sofa; she was drunk. In the early hours of the morning, she woke up to find herself naked."

No ANC comment

The accused's lawyer Msimelelo Qumntu told the court that, apart from an arrest for public violence during the anti-apartheid struggle in the 1980s, the councillor had no pending cases or previous convictions.

He was still expected to take the stand and has not pleaded.

Attempts to get comment from ANC officials in the Eastern Cape were unsuccessful on Monday.

This was not the only case this month to affect students at Fort Hare.

Olwethu Tshefu, 30 was stabbed to death about two weeks after he witnessed his close student Yonela Boli, 24, stabbed to death on February 8, allegedly by his girlfriend, SABC News reported.

(function() {za24_InitAds('fluid', '1', '/8900/24.com/Web/News24/SouthAfrica/Articles', 'fluid', '');})();Tshefu was stabbed to death by a man on Saturday morning, TimesLIVE reported.

Kinana said the circumstances of the incident were still under investigation.

- Compiled by Cebelihle Mthethwa