Tokyo Mataboge, 40, had been accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his home in Lethabong on 24 November 2011, but was on Tuesday found not guilty.

The woman, identified in court only as MM, had alleged that Mataboge had come to her home in Lethabong to collect a copy of her CV so that he could help her find employment.

She reportedly told him over the phone that she did not have a printed CV but that it was on a memory stick. She had testified that Mataboge had lured her to his home under the pretext that he could download her CV onto his laptop at his home.

She claimed Mataboge had gone into a bedroom and emerged with his shirt unbuttoned and his trouser zip opened. She claimed he forcefully kissed her, touched her breast and put his hand inside her tights and tried to touch her.

However, in delivering his judgment, magistrate Chris Nel said the court had to determine whether a sexual offence had actually taken place or whether the incident in question was part of a campaign of dirty tricks due to infighting within the ANC in the province.

“It is common knowledge that there is infighting in the ANC in the North West. It is not only within the ANC, but all other political parties… ” he said.

The woman had already twice withdrawn the charges, once after she claimed that she had received threatening text messages on her cellphone warning her to withdraw the case or she would be assassinated like the late ANC councillor Moss Phakoe. However, she was unable to provide any corroborating evidence.

Phakoe was gunned down at his home in Rustenburg Noord in March 2009.

Advocate Itumeleng Masako, for Mataboge, said he was relieved that his client had been acquitted and said the entire matter had been a political ploy designed to discredit his client.

“As a leader there was a cloud hanging over him. There was a question of whether women and children were safe. He could not lead with this cloud. God is great, he is being cleared. He can now lead the people of North West,” said Masako.

ANA