Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has apologised for a video containing material of a s-e-xual nature meant to be only seen by him and his wife is being used to blackmail him.
Gigaba says the video is at the centre of a number of blackmail and extortion attempts, dating back to the period immediately following his appointment as finance minister in March last year.
Head of PR firm Kapital Mindz, Vuyo Mkhize confirmed the s-e-x tape. However, he said the video did not involve Gigaba and his wife.
“The video, although I am not at liberty to go into the details of what it
contains, it does not contain footage o the minister and his wife. It’s only the minister, it’s a video he created for transmission to his wife.”
In a series of tweets, Gigaba said the footage was stolen from his phone when it got hacked in 2016.
“These blackmail/extortion attempts as well as the illegal interception of my communication/hacking of my phone have all been reported to the relevant law enforcement/intelligence agencies and I am advised that the resultant investigations are still continuing,” Gigaba tweeted.
“I take this opportunity to publicly apologise, in advance, to the rest of my family – especially my kids, my mom and my in-laws – and the South African public for the pain and embarrassment the likely wider distribution of this private material will cause.
“I hope our nation will, someday, constructively engage with the question of whether it is correct to condone and promote the gross invasion of the privacy of others by distributing such material, more especially in the clear absence of a public interest justification.”
Mkhize said they will engage will security agencies for an update on the investigation.
He added that his client, Gigaba was not getting “any joy from security agencies” with regards to the investigation.
My wife and I have learned, with regret and sadness, that a video containing material of a sexual nature, meant for our eyes only, which was stolen when my communication got illegally intercepted/my phone got hacked, in 2016/17, is circulating among certain political figures…
— Malusi Gigaba (@mgigaba) October 28, 2018
This video has been at the centre of a number of blackmail and extortion attempts, dating back to the period immediately following my appointment as Minister of Finance, on 31 March 2017, all of which I have steadfastly refused to entertain…
— Malusi Gigaba (@mgigaba) October 28, 2018
These blackmail/extortion attempts as well as the illegal interception of my communication/hacking of my phone have all been reported to the relevant law enforcement/intelligence agencies and I am advised that the resultant investigations are still continuing…
— Malusi Gigaba (@mgigaba) October 28, 2018
I take this opportunity to publicly apologise, in advance, to the rest of my family – especially my kids, my mom and my in-laws – and the South African public for the pain and embarrassment the likely wider distribution of this private material will cause…
— Malusi Gigaba (@mgigaba) October 28, 2018
I have asked Vuyo Mkhize of public affairs consultancy Kapital Mindz to handle all media enqueries relating to this matter on behalf of my family and I. Khabazela has been assisting me, in my personal capacity, with the management of this matter, since around May 2017.
— Malusi Gigaba (@mgigaba) October 28, 2018
Source: eNCA
