In a statement issued on Saturday night, DA national spokesperson Phumzile Van Damme claimed that the party was in possession of information that assault charges had been laid against Prince for allegedly assaulting a police officer in Leeu Gamka in the Karoo.

The latest claims come after the party laid criminal charges against Prince and asked Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate allegations of abuse of office.

The mayor is in hot water after he requested that a tender be given to a construction company which was "sympathetic and having a relationship with the ANC".

Van Damme said: "Charges of assault were laid against mayor Prince by the officer at the Leeu Gamka SAPS, and the DA is in possession of the case number."

News24 is in possession of the case number, but attempts to confirm with the police that charges had been laid against Prince were unsuccessful.

Prince was also not immediately available to comment on the alleged incident.

According to the DA, it is alleged that, on the day of the incident, Prince travelling in a black Mercedez Benze, registered to the South African Football Association (Safa), of which he is a board member.

Van Damme claimed that Prince had been pulled over for speeding and that he had then allegedly assaulted the officer.

Van Damme said that this was the third incident in less than three months where senior ANC officials in the Western Cape had been charged with assault.

"As in the case of Marius Fransman and Faiez Jacobs, the ANC must immediately suspend Prince or be seen to support him as he lurches from scandal to scandal.

"Last week, the DA also laid a charge of corruption against Prince for the illicit party funding scandal he finds himself in, where letters from his office request government contractors to make donations to the ANC," said Van Damme.

She said the criminality within the Western Cape ANC had never been more pronounced.

"Things have reached a point where criminal charges are laid for an ANC executive mayor assaulting an officer of the law."

Van Damme said the ANC should suspend Prince immediately "and stop protecting criminal conduct".

"The people of the Western Cape and of South Africa must not be exposed to the risks of an ANC that so brazenly protects criminality," she said.

- News24.com