Cabinet has backed Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils over allegations by the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) that he may have had an underhanded role in the rape trial against former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
The Cabinet issued the statement on Wednesday after its regular meeting in Cape Town, saying it rejected “insinuations” that any member of the executive or employee of the state may have been involved in illegal “underhand activities in the processes leading up to the trial”.
This was suggested by ANCYL’S leader, Fikile Mbalula, who also questioned whether former national prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka had also played a similar role.
The Cabinet also said it noted “with concern reckless suggestions in some media that information published recently on the death of the former deputy president’s wife had originated from the Presidency”.
“This is untrue, and enquiries have confirmed that the newspaper concerned has had access to inquest documents, which are not in the possession of the Presidency. Government is of the view that the airing of such private matters in public is irresponsible, repugnant and distasteful.”
Last Saturday The Citizen, a Johannesburg-based newspaper, published excerpts of a letter written by Zuma’s late wife, Kate, before she committed suicide in 2000. She described her marriage to Zuma as “24 years of hell”. — I-Net Bridge