An ANC heavyweight is being accused by a Joburg woman of drugging and raping her in the apartment of his businessman friend in Sandton last year.

The explosive claims came to the fore after the 28-year-old woman wrote a letter to ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule last week, which was leaked to Sunday World.

In the letter, the woman complained about the top gun, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

After studying the letter of complaint, Magashule summoned the top dog to his office at the ANC headquarters, Luthuli House in Joburg, and handed the letter to him.

Magashule allegedly phoned the victim and asked her what she wanted him to do with her complaint.

He allegedly told the accuser that because the matter did not happen at Luthuli House or during the course of the party's work, it was not an organisational matter and advised her to contact law enforcement agencies.

Sunday World contacted the lady and she declined to comment.

ANC spokesperson Dakota Legoete said: "I can confirm that the woman in question has written a letter to the SG and complained about the matter. The SG told her that because we don't have the resources and the capacity to investigate and also because the matter did not happen in the premises of the ANC, we encouraged her to contact the law enforcement agencies."

The businessman denied that he was present when the alleged crime happened and said he only arrived at the apartment the following day. He also denied owning the swanky pad.

"She never told me anything. I only heard it later through someone else. I was never part of any settlement talks," said the businessman.

In the letter, addressed to the member of the party, the woman alleged that she visited her businessman friend for drinks at his luxury apartment at Michelangelo in Sandton on Saturday, April 14 2018.

"That evening, around midnight, I decided to go sleep in one of the bedrooms because I had enough to drink, rather than trying to travel home intoxicated.

"... morning, April 15, I woke up at around 8.30am to get water from the kitchen where you walked in.

"I had just realised that you slept in one of the bedrooms. You made small talk and offered me a drink, I said I had a slight hangover and that I should hydrate.

"You insisted that I should have a glass of champagne with you over a chat which I did. I remember how you elaborated your admiration for me, you described how I behaved and that you had been watching me.

"I expressed my disinterest and I was there as someone's guest. We spoke about my field of work and you suggested that we exchange numbers in case I needed any form of assistance," reads the letter.

She said after a couple of hours of the same morning, she received a text message from the big-shot politician which she brushed off.

The SMS, which she attached to the letter of complaint, reads: "I really want you" to which she replied: "Noooooo."

She said after she rejected him, she and her friend, whose name cannot be revealed for legal reasons, took a nap after they started feeling dizzy.

"We wake up feeling unnaturally aroused, we are kissing and touching each other inappropriately, something we have never done.

"We are horny like possessed animals. A few hours later we wake up to three men applauding that 'it was going down here'. There were used condoms and your blue underwear on the floor.

"I remember this because you had been wearing the hotel robe loosely that morning," reads the letter.

"There is an odd pattern of sleep. Five hours in, up for 15 minutes, five hours asleep, up for a few minutes.

"This happened from those early hours of Sunday until the early of hours Monday (say 2am) when we could finally stand and make sense that we should go home."

She said on Monday, her friend went to see a doctor suffering from intense hangovers.

The woman said later in the afternoon when she was walking to the bank, she started being nauseous and threw up in a public toilet.

"I had really strange feeling about the sequence of events that had happened since Sunday morning at that apartment," reads the letter.

"I consulted the doctor at Sunninghill clinic the following morning, after getting results that I was raped, they suggested I give a statement to the police. (Businessman's name withheld) asked me not to, this could blow up in the media, and that we should rather sort it out with you, the perpetrator."

She said there were talks of a settlement but nothing came of it. "But then its suspiciously too late to open a case, and we are afraid of the public humiliation if this issue went public, our families, and social implications. I feel my womanhood, and my integrity have been stolen by the pain you inflicted on me."

The woman wanted the top ANC member to apologise, pay their medical bill and help them get professional help.

The documents show that an offer of R20 000 then R50 000 was made but she turned it down. 

Senior politician denies sexual assault charge 

The man's response

On Febraury 14, 2019, I was alerted by the secretary-general of the ANC [Ace Magashule] that he had received a letter from a woman claiming what I view as the most grotesque attack on my reputation.

In the letter, replete with false accusations, I am accused of rape, sexual assault and even drugging two women.

At the outset, I deny these accusations with the contempt they deserve. I refuse to succumb to extortion and blackmail. Most importantly, I refuse to bow down to dirty tricks by cowards operating from their factional dark corners, using women to fight or neutralise me. Most tragically, I detest the use of such serious societal maladies like rape, sexual harassment and women abuse to simply achieve narrow factional and political ends. It is an insult to women of this country and the fight against women abuse.

I wish to expose and condemn this feeble, yet dangerous, attempt at political blackmail and manipulation, orchestrated by elements wishing to turn our politics into a jungle, a place for apartheid-like dirty tricks to silence others.

For the record, I will neither succumb nor dignify the work of such elements in our society. I will not be silenced through a dirty tricks campaign.

I am, therefore, currently seeking legal advice with regard to a possible case of extortion or defamation or any other legal remedy available to me. I will not rest until I found out the identities of those behind this dirty trick, obviously learned from their apartheid masters and handlers.