Malema warns Ramaphosa and his wife about ‘dirty tricks’

EFF leader Julius Malema has shared his thoughts on the email scandal involving Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

It emerged on Friday evening that Sunday Independent editor Steven Motale was in possession of numerous emails from Ramaphosa’s private email accounts possibly linking the deputy president to as many as eight different women.

If they are indeed authentic, the emails were either leaked from Ramaphosa’s server or were obtained through a hack. His office has said they were not obtained legally.

Ramaphosa’s office, through acting spokesperson Tyrone Seale, released a statement on Friday to say it was “aware” of social media messages, “which take the form of media enquiries from a Sunday newspaper, that make various claims about Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s personal life”.

Malema has warned the Ramaphosa camp to be “strong” in the lead-up to the ANC conference in December, as this was only the beginning.

He alleged that “dirty tricks” would from now on be a weapon to use against those running for president.

“Ramaphosa, his wife and supporters will have to be extremely strong especially as they move closer to the conference, dirty tricks on steroids,” he said.

Responding to a follower, presumably an ANC follower, who asked him how ANC business was his problem, Malema said he was only concerned because Ramaphosa was the deputy president of the country.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa alleged that the dirty tricks would be used “to facilitate for Jacob Zuma’s ex [Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma]”.

This was an “act of desperation”, added Holomisa.

Earlier last month, Malema was the first to go on radio and alleged that there was a belief in the ANC that Ramaphosa used to beat his first wife.

The EFF leader was reacting to ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini’s statement defending Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana after he assaulted two women at a nightclub last week, saying other members “had done worse”.

His wife and son have since dismissed Malema’s statement.

Former Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni was the first to warn South Africans about “dirty tricks” that he alleged would be used ahead of the December conference.

“It’s going to be dirty! The stakes are high, be careful,” he said in May.

“Good people’s names will be tarnished! Why? It’s dirty politics. Raw!! That was not what Freedom was about. Be careful on social media!

“Be careful about what you post, privately, DM, SMS, or whatever. The battle lines are drawn. And the skeletananyana,” he said at the time.

To avoid the “dirty tricks”, Mboweni said he would stay off social media. He said he would be back in January next after the conference.

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Ramaphosa’s private emails about ‘affairs’ allegedly a ‘smear campaign’