EFF member behind fake account sworn in as party MP

A FORMER EFF councillor who is accused of being behind a fake account that was used to allegedly spread false and racist information has been appointed as an MP.

The EFF has moved Anthony Matumba from Limpopo to represent the party in the National Assembly.

On Wednesday Matumba was sworn in as a party MP.

Matumba is currently facing charges in the Equality Court after he was accused of being behind the Tracy Zille account. He has denied in court that he is behind the Twitter fake account.

The matter was heard in the Equality Court on Tuesday where the SA Human Rights Commission brought in an expert witness. The court hearing, sitting in Makhado, was sat down for three days.

Matumba is accused of making disparaging remarks about black women on the fake account. This stems from the tweets posted in 2020 when he was serving as a councillor in Makhado.

However, on Wednesday the EFF took him to Parliament where he was sworn in as one of their members.

The EFF had grown its support after the 2019 national and provincial elections. When it first arrived in Parliament in 2014 it had only 25 seats, but after the 2019 elections its seats increased to 44 in the national assembly.

Matumba is expected to return to the Equality Court after his swearing-in ceremony was concluded on Wednesday.