Axed Western Cape Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz has resigned from his position as the party's leader in the province.

This comes after Fritz was given 24 hours to provide the Democratic Alliance (DA) with reasons why he should not be suspended from party activities.

DA Western Cape provincial chairperson Jaco Londt said: "The DA in the Western Cape notes the resignation of Albert Fritz as provincial leader and as a member of the party. This means that the provincial leader position is vacant and will be filled at the next provincial council meeting scheduled for May 2022," Londt said.

The deputy leader, Tertuis Simmers, will continue as acting leader until the election.

Londt said more information on the election will be communicated once a presiding officer has been appointed.

In a short statement released on Tuesday, DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille said the party's federal executive decided to act against Fritz.

Allegations of sexual misconduct had hovered over Fritz for the past month.

Advocate Jennifer Williams was appointed to head an independent investigation into the allegations against Fritz.

Fritz, his spokesperson, Wade Seale, the head of the community safety ministry, David Abrahams, support officer Michael Kwaaiman, and another official, Lazola Ndubela, had all been suspended, pending the investigation.

It is understood that the complainants - most of whom were interns in Fritz's office and others involved in the Expanded Public Works Programme - implicated several colleagues who worked in the ministry in alleged acts of grooming and of intoxicating victims before they were allegedly sexually abused.

On Tuesday, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde fired Fritz from his provincial cabinet.

The independent investigation found:

• Sufficient credibility in the allegations of sexual misconduct;
• Credibility in the claims of alcohol abuse; and
• Strong evidence of Fritz creating an environment conducive to sexual harassment, or alternatively, taking advantage of young women sexually. 

Winde said he was shocked by Fritz's actions. 

"I am extremely angry at what appears to be verifiable incidences of serious sexual misconduct by him, in circumstances which in and of themselves were inappropriate.

"That it is by someone who has been tasked to protect our youth and our communities, is to me unfathomable. It is a shocking violation of his oath of office and the principles of our constitutional democracy," Winde said in a statement on Tuesday.