The conduct of ANC councillor and a self-proclaimed prophet who appeared at the Orkney Magistrates Court today facing sexual offenses charges including two statutory rapes has sent shock waves through the community of Kanana outside Orkney in the North West.
The ANC councilor and pastor Tebogo Sepale ,43, is facing eleven charges including four counts of rape, two counts of statutory rape, manufacturing child porn, sexual intimidation, and three counts of violation of a child with consent.
Sepale was nabbed by the police last week after video recordings where he was performing sexual acts with minors circulated on social media.
The father of one of Sepale’s victims, a 15-year old boy, said outside the court, his son – a Grade 10 learner never told him of the videos and he was told bybrelatives who saw the video on Saturday.
“I am heartbroken. I wanted to beat up the councilor, but I knew that I would be arrested, so I decided to instead go to the police station and open a case against him,” he said.
The father is raising his 15-year-old son together with his two other children after the death of his wife in 2011.
Church members and Kanana community members were outraged and one of the neighbours said her daughter saw the video at school and asked her about it when she got home.
“She goes to the same school as one of the victims. Those videos traumatized a lot of children in Kanana. We are now worried about the mental state of our children. My daughter told me that she was already scared of him,” she said.
One of the congregants at Sepale’s church said the videos were the hot topic during the church service on Sunday.
“Everyone was talking about it and many were disappointed as we all respected him,” he said.
The ANC has already suspended Sepale who allegedly promised his victims jobs in return for sexual favors.
Different political party members picketing outside the court said the governing party should have made thorough background checks before appointing a councilor who allegedly has been posting sexual-related videos on social media dating as far back as 2012 before he became a counselor.
Forum 4 Service Delivery Chief whip at the Matlosana Local Municipality Matebogo Mosiako said the ANC needed to start again in terms of electing credible council members.
“Even from his social media pages, he would say that he wanted to be a pornstar long before even this had happened. Why did they choose him as the councilor? There were people in that ward, only two weeks back I was called by some members of the ANC to say help us, how do we remove this member from society because he is a danger to us. Are you saying the ANC did not know anything about this, they were fully aware,” she said.
The national chairperson for African Independent National Congress, Karabo Kau said the ANC should have expelled Sepale instead of suspending him.
“We issued a statement against the submission of the ANC, in our view that is a personal attack on the people of Kanana. You cannot suspend an individual who has been arrested on such accusations, they are material in the form of videos that are circulating. What is an ideal position for any organisation to do to their deployee, is to expel him because he has now become a monster,” he said.
Two other victims who also opened a case against Sepale for sexual-related offenses saying they became victims when the accused wanted sexual favors in exchange for his help as a ward councilor.
“I tried opening the case several times, the police previously failed me. I am happy he is arrested,” said one victime
The case was postponed to 17 May to allow Sepale to find a legal representative.
