EFF councillor in the City of Joburg, Lucky Chabalala, has admitted to manhandling a fellow member in the council.

Chabalala is accused of slapping Lillian Kolisang, the spokeswoman for the speaker of the metro, Vasco da Gama, in the wee hours of Saturday.

This allegedly happened at PH Network Café, also known as Mabaleng, in Mondeor, south of Johannesburg.

Kolisang said she and her friend Thokozile Mohlomi had joined Chabalala at his table upon his request.

Contacted for comment yesterday, the councillor admitted to Sowetan that he
indeed shoved Kolisang, but denied slapping her across the face.

"The thing is, I pushed her, I didn't beat her. But we as the EFF are always targeted. They are nervous because Nelson Mandela Bay [municipality] is going, so they think the City of Joburg is also going. I told that girl s**t because she accused [me] of making advances on her . there's no such [thing]," said Chabalala.

However, Chabalala seemed to have mistaken the journalist for someone as he inquired again who he was speaking to halfway through the conversation. Upon realising that he was speaking to this journalist, he said: "Eish," and dropped the call.

Kolisang said she had asked Chabalala to leave as she felt uncomfortable having him around her.

"He was being very touchy, he kept touching my thighs and I told him to stop doing that. He did it again and I removed his hand and I [was] like, 'listen, this isn't a joke, stop doing that because I really do not feel comfortable with you touching me'," she said.

Kolisang said Chabalala left but later came back with another guy

"He said, 'so this is exactly what you were planning. This guy is your plan B, so you want this guy', and I asked him, 'what are you talking about?' That's when he slapped me," claimed Kolisang.

EFF chief whip in the council Musa Novela said they would take action against Chabalala

"The process is that Chabalala must also be afforded an opportunity to respond to the issue, and it hasn't happened now because he is out of town. He must be given an opportunity through our own internal process and after that, we will take a decision [on] whether to pursue disciplinary processes or not," said Novela.

Chief of staff in the chief whip's office Luyolo Mphithi said they would take disciplinary action based on the outcome of the police investigation.

"Lillian has officially laid a complaint to the office of the chief whip, so we will now write a referral to the ethics and disciplinary committee, which deals with complaints against councillors," said Mphithi.

Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini confirmed that a case was opened at the Mondeor police station on Sunday.