Marius Fransman believes the African National Congress’s (ANC's) integrity commission (IC) acted beyond its mandate in handling sexual harassment allegations against him.

The commission's proceedings were not of a formal, disciplinary nature, he said in an affidavit submitted as part of a court application this week to get access to a copy of its report.

He stepped aside as the ANC's Western Cape leader in January after the allegations surfaced. His lawyer Ashley Meyer said on Wednesday that he was still in the job, while ANC secretary general Gwede said last week that he had not been reinstated.

Fransman said the commission’s mandate should not be confused with the ANC national executive committee and national working committee’s obligations to comply with the party’s constitution, especially on suspensions.

“Since the IC’s mandate is not to make findings of fault, it follows that the inquiry does not make provision for the submission of evidence by third parties, complainants or non-members,” he stated.

“The facts demonstrated that the IC acted beyond the scope of its mandate in a range of respects; namely by interviewing the complainant and by making adverse findings and by engaging the media.”

Louisa Wynand, 21, accused Fransman of sexual harassment while they travelled to the North West in January, for the ANC’s birthday rally in Rustenburg. He has denied the claim.

She had just started working for Fransman as an events and public relations manager at his hospitality business.

Fransman said intimate details of the IC hearings were leaked to the media and reported on.

In a letter dated 19 April, he cautioned the IC to guard against media leaks because of the risk of being put on trial in the media when he had not been found guilty of any misconduct, he said.

Earlier in the month, Mantashe said the commission recommended in its report that Fransman’s matter be referred to the ANC national disciplinary committee and that this was accepted.

It was “unacceptable” that this was not communicated to him directly, Fransman said in his affidavit.

Mantashe told Fransman in a letter dated 22 February that “if any decision of the ANC has to be communicated to you, it will be done officially from my office”.

Fransman said that to date, the information had not been communicated to him personally, nor had any formal charges been brought by the disciplinary committee.