Two weeks after telling the Mail & Guardian that he would be framed or assassinated, the man at the centre of the ‘hoax email†trial was arrested on Thursday for allegedly attempting to murder his son.
Muzi Kunene was apprehended by police at his Ballito home in KwaZulu-Natal after allegedly shooting his 24-year-old son in the back of the head.
Police confirmed the arrest, but declined to elaborate on the details of the case.
Kunene’s wife, Belinda, said three heavily armed policemen in plain clothes arrested her husband at about 6.45am on Thursday.
‘They said they were sent by Commissioner [Hamilton] Ngidi and that they are taking him to the Kranskop police station,†Belinda Kunene said. Ngidi is KwaZulu-Natal’s police chief.
Police spokesperson Dennis Adriao denied that Kunene was arrested on Ngidi’s instructions. He confirmed that a case number existed and that the docket is with the Douglasdale police station in Johannesburg.
Speaking to the M&G from the Kranskop police station, Belinda Kunene said she and her lawyer have been struggling to obtain information about her husband’s whereabouts.
‘Kranskop [police station] tells us that he had been transferred to Johannesburg. There is no case number registered here.â€
According to her, it has been established that Kunene’s son, Msebenzi, is the complainant in the case. ‘He alleges Muzi shot him in the back of his head [while he was] in Pretoria. I came back from Pretoria with Muzi yesterday [Wednesday] and I don’t know when that [the alleged shooting] happened. I was with him the whole time.â€
Admitting that Msebenzi Kunene is a ‘problematic character†and that he is the accused in a robbery case, Belinda Kunene said her husband ‘loves his sons to deathâ€.
‘Any way he [Msebenzi Kunene] says he was shot in the back of his head. How did he see who shot him?â€
Muzi Kunene was subcontracted by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to intercept emails as part of Project Avani. He, former NIA boss Billy Masetlha and former head of information technology at the NIA Funi Madlala are accused of defrauding the NIA by falsifying ’emails†and presenting them as the truth.
Masetlha was acquitted by the Hatfield Magistrate’s Court this week on a separate charge of withholding information from the inspector general of intelligence.
Two weeks ago Muzi Kunene told the M&G about four incidents that prove the state is out to ‘make [him] look like a lampooner — someone running away from his own shadowsâ€.
The next day he was shot in the hand allegedly by a stranger who confronted him on a Pretoria street.
Kunene claims he is being victimised because of information he uncovered while working for the NIA, including details about corruption in the arms deal, in the Jacob Zuma case and in the police.