The State Security Agency (SSA) is not aware of the claim that Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula’s short extramarital affair was actually a politically motivated trap set by them, as reported in the New Age on Tuesday.
“We are not aware of the claims being made and we urge people who have legitimate complaints to approach the Office of the Inspector General of Intelligence and lay a formal complaint,” SSA spokesperson Brian Dube said in a statement.
The New Age reported that the married Mbalula, who has publicly confirmed having sex with a woman he met at a party, believes he was the victim of a trap set for him by “rogue elements” in South Africa’s intelligence agencies.
According to the report, the woman was paid R150Â 000 to “rubbish his name” by operatives meddling in African National Congress (ANC) squabbles in the run-up to the party’s elective conference in Mangaung next year.
The atmosphere in the ANC was “polluted” and state security agencies were being used to spy on the party’s leaders.
“State institutions must not be used to fight political wars. It must stop now,” he reportedly told the newspaper.
The SSA responded by saying: “We are worried by the tendency of politicians to make broad and unsubstantiated claims reflecting negatively on the integrity of the agency.
“The minister of state security is on record appealing to politicians to stop politicising the work of the agency,” said Dube.
Mbalula reportedly told the New Age that the political environment in the ANC was “really a poisoned one” and that the reports on his short affair were part of a broader political plot using state agencies to discredit him.
However, Mbalula, who is a former ANC Youth League leader, acknowledged that he was largely responsible for the scandal. “I need to relook at my ways.”
In an interview published in City Press on Sunday, Joyce Molamu said she met Mbalula at a party and they had a “two night stand”.
She fell pregnant and they discussed money for her to have an abortion.
She eventually wanted R40Â 000 to cover her expenses while she took a few months off to heal. — Sapa