ANC Women’s League President Sisisi Tolashe.

The ANC Women’s League has resisted pressure to ask its president, Sisisi Tolashe, to resign, saying that she is innocent until proven guilty and has not been directed by the ANC to “step aside” from her duties.

Instead, it has placed Tolashe on “special leave” to allow her “to focus on the disciplinary processes of the ANC”.

The ANC’s national executive committee said last week that Tolashe should step down from her roles in the party’s women’s league and Parliament as she faces disciplinary charges for commandeering two luxury cars donated to the league for the use of her son and daughter. Tolashe says she took the cars into safekeeping as the league’s assets could be seized at any time due to financial distress.

READ | Sisisi Tolashe in the crosshairs: ANCWL backs probe amid alleged plots for her removal

The Integrity Commission, a body of elders that provides ethical guidance to the ANC, recommended that Tolashe resign.

Two weeks ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa fired Tolashe from the Cabinet.

Usually, the ANC NEC holds that it is only once a member is charged by a court that he or she must be “placed on set-aside”. However, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula last week outlined various options for what should happen if she chose not to resign, implying that it was not a choice she could freely make.

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