Media reports about President Kgalema Motlanthe’s personal life violated his rights to privacy and dignity, the African National Congress (ANC) said on Tuesday.
”The reports are unwarranted and unjustified,” the ANC said in a statement.
The Sunday Independent reported that Motlanthe, who is separated from his wife, Mapula, was intimately involved with two other women, one of them a 24-year-old pregnant with his child.
This was followed by a report in the Star on Monday, in which Mapula Motlanthe told the newspaper she did not know of her husband’s extramarital affairs.
ANC spokesperson Carl Niehaus told the newspaper the claims were an anonymous smear campaign, adding that Motlanthe had repeatedly said his private life was his own.
”The ANC stands by its deputy president, and will continue to provide unwavering support as he fulfils the important responsibilities he has been given as president of the Republic,” the ruling party said.
”The ANC will not be distracted from the crucial work that needs to be done to improve the lives of the people,” it said.
The latest claims follow a report, in the Sunday Times, that Motlanthe was on a ”collision course” with the ANC for ”failing to toe the line”.
The newspaper wrote of a ”bitter behind-the-scenes war” between the ANC and Motlanthe because he, among others:
- Failed to withdraw the government’s support of a Supreme Court of Appeal action by former president Thabo Mbeki to overturn the ruling that resulted in the setting aside of charges against ANC president Jacob Zuma; and
- Axed former director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli without first informing the ANC.
However, Niehaus denied that there were ”any tensions between the party and its deputy president”.
The claims came at the same time as a report in the Sowetan about Motlanthe’s separation from his wife, leading the ANC Youth League to accuse the media of waging a ”concerted effort” to create a crisis around Motlanthe’s personal and private life.
”The levels of attack expose the immaturity of media coverage of politics in South Africa, which subjectively and repulsively define leaders of the ANC outside organisational mandate and process,” said ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu.
”The ANCYL reasserts its support for [ANC] deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, and affirms our last national executive committee decision that Comrade Kgalema should be the incoming deputy president of the Republic of South Africa.
”We again refuse to believe that there are attempts within the African National Congress to undermine and/or sideline the deputy president of the ANC,” he said. — Sapa