South African News

Married woman shares how ANC councillor demanded tlof tlof at her house

It has been revealed that ANC councillor who is now facing two cases of statutory rαpe has also a pending murder investigation case.

Tebogo Elias Sepale, whose sεxual videos with minor young boys emerged on social media at the weekend appeared at the Orkney magistrate’s court on charges of statutory rαpe and crimen injuria.

According to Sowetan, just three days before videos of him having sεx with young boys surfaced, he allegedly sent a nαked video of himself to an anti-gender-based violence (GBV) activist who was seeking help for getting funding for her organisation.

The videos have caused outrage in the community of Kanana township in Orkney, North West, which yesterday went out on a protest on Monday. Sepale, 43, was arrested on Sunday. He describes himself as a prophet, businessman and politician on his social media pages.

Further, murder charges against Sepale were withdrawn in February last year, pending the DNA results. He was arrested in December 2021 in connection with the murder of Ayabonga Mtyeneni, 30, at a tavern in the township, following an argument.

Police at the time said it was believed Mtyeneni belonged to a gang and that following his murder, the gang mobilised and shot and killed three people. The fourth person escaped with injuries.

Police said Sepale had taken them to a place where the murder weapon in the Mtyeneni case was hidden. That is when he was arrested. “The case was provisionally withdrawn pending further investigation. It was because of an outstanding DNA report,” said provincial police spokesperson Brig Saebata Mokgwabone. He couldn’t say whether the delay in the report was due to the DNA backlog crisis in the country.

A woman, who cannot be named, said it all started when she and a group of other anti-GBV activists approached Sepale, a ward 25 councillor, to write a letter for them so that they could get funding. The 51-year-old woman said their non-governmental organisation certificate had not been released and they asked Sepale to write them a letter that would help ask for donations from small businesses.

The donations would have helped them to rebuild a vandalised building in the area and use it to help GBV victims. When she texted Sepale to remind him about the letter, he allegedly responded: “Hello, baby!”.

Sepale allegedly said he could only send her the letter if she promised to sleep with him. “I said [to Sepale] do you know me? Do you know how old I am? I even sent him a picture of my daughter to show him I am an old woman and he asked me for my photo and he continued to say he is used to sleeping with older women.

“I told him I am married but he said ‘We will respect your man’. He even insisted on coming and I said my husband was around.

“He ended up sending me a video of him nαked. This didn’t sit well with me, it really hurt my feelings because I thought of him as a pastor.”

She said she opened a case of crimen injuria against him last Wednesday.

The ANC in the province has since suspended Sepale, adding that the suspension will hold until the outcome of his disciplinary process. Provincial ANC spokesperson Tumelo Maruping said the party did not implement its step aside rule in the past because “before the process could ensue, charges against him were provisionally withdrawn”.

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