S Africa's ANC reinstates expelled senior MP

JOHANNESBURG, May 20 (Reuters) South Africa's ruling ANC has reinstated the former parliamentary chief whip to the party after it found a probe over sexual harassment was flawed and ordered a new investigation, a party statement said.

In December, the African National Congress expelled Mbulelo Goniwe after a female intern employed by the party in parliament accused him of sexual harassment and a disciplinary committee found him guilty.

A party statement late yesterday said a committee that reviewed the findings found them ''procedurally flawed'' and the matter would be reheard by a new disciplinary committee.

''Goniwe's membership of the ANC will be reinstated for the purposes of a new disciplinary hearing,'' it added.

The party, which under Nelson Mandela led South Africa from apartheid to democracy in 1994, has been battling to clean up its image after a string of scandals involving its political elite.

Graft and rape charges levelled against sacked Deputy President Jacob Zuma have caused serious rifts in the movement. One of Goniwe's predecessors as chief whip was freed early from jail following a conviction for fraud.

The party came under fire in January when former chief whip Tony Yengeni was freed from jail after serving a fraction of his fraud sentence, fuelling opposition charges that the ANC is soft on corruption.

The ANC insists it takes a firm stand against corruption and other infractions by party members.

President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as his deputy in 2005 after he was implicated in the fraud and corruption trial of a former financial adviser. A high court judge struck off graft charges against Zuma last September, but prosecutors have said they may seek to file new charges.

Zuma remains deputy president of the ANC and widely popular with the rank and file. He has suggested he will run for the ANC's top job at a December party conference, seen as a stepping stone to the nation's presidency.

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