The wife of the man allegedly at the centre of the African National Congress’s spy and hoax e-mail scandal on Sunday appealed to the public for help following his disappearance.
Durban-based IT executive Muziwendoda Sikhona Kunene was last seen on Friday when his wife, Belinda, dropped him off at a BP garage to board a taxi to Sandton City.
”The reason I’m acting this desperately is because my husband had all along harboured fears that he may be attacked or killed because of his alleged involvement in the so-called hoax e-mail saga,” she said in a statement on Sunday.
Kunene was arrested on December 1 in connection with the saga that has divided the ANC. He was released on bail of R2 000.
”Since then he has been under constant and uninterrupted surveillance by people who occasionally stopped him and identified themselves as police officials,” she said, reading from a prepared statement.
Kunene’s lawyer, Sabelo Mabuza, in whose presence the statement was read, said they would not comment on which Johannesburg BP garage he had been dropped off at and if it was the couple’s regular practice.
Kunene said she reported her husband missing at a police station on Saturday.
In its December 15 edition last year, the Mail & Guardian reported that the 73 pages of e-mails purport to be messages and chat room exchanges between senior ANC politicians, including Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, members of the National Prosecuting Authority, white media personalities and opposition figures like Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon.
The exchanges, of dubious origin and content, claim to illustrate a political conspiracy led by a Xhosa faction to rid the ruling party of stumbling blocks in its presidential succession race and also to discredit former deputy president Jacob Zuma and ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe
According to the newspaper, Kunene was involved in consulting work in the restructuring of the KwaZulu-Natal premier’s office and the department of transport for the past five years.
Kunene, who has business ties with Motlanthe through black economic empowerment company Pamodzi, was suspected by authorities to have manufactured the widely publicised e-mails implicating senior ANC and government officials.
The Sunday Times reported that preliminary investigations found
73 pages of the originals of the e-mails on computer hard drives at Kunene’s house in Randburg. While the inspector general’s office had confirmed it was investigating a case of impersonation and subversion against Kunene, Motlanthe’s involvement was not clear.
Intelligence Inspector General Zolile Ngcakani was investigating the origins of the e-mails.
Commenting on the e-mails, Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils told the Mail & Guardian: ”I reiterate that these e-mails, which are a subject of investigation by the inspector general of intelligence and the South African Police Service, are clearly a fabrication and have very sinister intentions.” – Sapa