NIA boss in abuse claim

The African National Congress Women’s League is to discuss claims that the new National Intelligence Agency (NIA) boss, Manala Manzini, allegedly abused his wife.

A senior league official also told the Mail & Guardian that ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe and the presidency were aware of the allegations.

Barely a year after Manzini took over as director general of the NIA, he is embroiled in what potentially could be a career-ending scandal after he allegedly abused his wife Mavivi Myakayaka-Manzini.

Several sources in the intelligence community said the alleged abuse of Myakayaka-Manzini happened after she confronted her husband about an extramarital affair he is said to have had with a junior NIA staff member. The young woman is alleged to have become pregnant.

NIA spokesperson Lorna Daniels told the M&G that the director general declined to comment and reserved his rights.

Myakayaka-Manzini, the deputy president of the ANC Women’s League and an ANC MP, did not deny the allegations when the M&G put them to her.

However, she said she was not comfortable discussing the matter in the media.

‘I have discussed this with relevant people. It is a difficult thing. I have taken the necessary steps,” said Myakayaka-Manzini.

It is not clear if Myakayaka-Manzini has laid a formal complaint against her husband, but the M&G understands she has reported the matter to the ANC Women’s League.

Approached for comment this week, the league’s secretary, Bathabile Dlamini, said it had decided to table the matter for an official discussion at the league’s national working committee meeting on Monday.

‘Our view is that this is such a personal matter and as a women’s organisation we cannot just haphazardly respond to media questions on this matter. Our approach to these kinds of issues is that we call a special sitting and discuss them,” Dlamini said.

‘This should not be misconstrued to suggest we are covering for anyone. We are merely trying to protect one of our own because we know that in cases like these, the victims suffer the most.”

Dlamini said the league had to consider that Myakayaka-Manzini’s husband ‘is a very senior person in the government and the ANC”.

”The media must understand that there are cases that are handled openly and those that are handled by the officials. This one deserves a formal sitting and a formal response from us.

‘We, however, draw strength in the knowledge that the victim is herself a very strong person.”

This week the M&G spoke to a senior ANC Women’s League leader, who asked not to be named, but who confirmed Myakayaka-Manzini had reported the matter to the league’s senior leadership. She also said Myakayaka-Manzini supported the decision to discuss the matter at the league’s national working committee meeting on Monday.

‘It was the complainant who informed some of our members about the matter in the first place,” the source said. ‘The league, under the leadership of the complainant, has a clear track record of tackling these kinds of issues head-on.”

The ANC Women’s League Constitution calls for its members to fight for the ‘end to all forms of violence against women, children and other vulnerable groups”.

It also calls for the campaign for a culture and recognition of women’s rights as human rights. She said the league was at the heart of a ‘big push” for the intervention of the ANC’s top leadership in the matter. She claimed both the presidency and ANC secretary general Motlanthe were aware of the allegations.

ANC head of presidency Smuts Ngonyama said he had not received any correspondence from either Myakayaka-Manzini or the ANC Women’s League. ‘Maybe the matter is with the secretary general. This is not politics. It’s about the lives of people. As the ANC, we would rather wait until the matter is brought to our attention.

Spokesperson for the presidency Mukoni Ratshitanga said: ‘No one has brought the allegations to the presidency’s attention. If they were brought to the attention of the presidency, the presidency would investigate and take whatever action is necessary.”

Repeated attempts by the M&G to get comment from Motlanthe were unsuccessful. Written questions were sent to Manzini, who was said to be out of the country.

Intelligence sources suggested Manzini was likely to be redeployed as an ambassador as a result of the allegations.

However, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa denied Manzini was being considered for an ambassadorship.

Mavivi Myakayaka-Manzini

Mavivi Myakayaka-Manzini is a prominent ANC women’s activist who is the deputy president of the ANC Women’s League and spokesperson for the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa. She is also ANC head of international affairs .

She was appointed parliamentary counsellor in 1996 and was a member of the committee that established the Commission for Gender Equality.

The October 1996 edition of the ANC publication, Mayibuye, said she had been involved in women’s struggles since 1977 as a member of the ANC’s women’s section and its secretary.

‘After completing a degree in political studies, she worked full time for the women’s secretariat on Voice of Women on Radio Freedom in Zambia.

‘When Myakayaka-Manzini came back from exile in 1990, she worked at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits on gender research,” the publication said.

It also said she was a member of the sub-council on the status of women in the Transitional Executive Council and promoted gender issues during the negotiations at the World Trade Centre.