Picture: Twitter
Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, an outside contender for ANC president, allegedly begged a 29-year-old staffer to send him pictures of her private parts.
This revelation was published by the Sunday Times, which detailed a story of how Siyasanga Mbambani, a presidential photographer, received the SMSes from the 64-year-old struggle veteran. The exchanges reportedly began in 2014.
The paper published samples of the texts, which included Radebe apparently begging her to do more than just send him a picture of herself fully clothed (which she had). She later allegedly obliged with a pic of herself in a bubble bath, and finally exposing her naked breasts.
“Let me see there,” a later text from him requested, with a clarification telling Mbambani that he was interested in her photographing herself further “down”. She claims she refused to do so.
She approached the Sunday Times with her version of the story, saying she viewed the exchanges as sexual harassment and that she had been put on suspension at the government communications department unfairly. The ostensible reason for her suspension was over allegations of improper conduct on her part and concerns about her dress style.
She had apparently showed unacceptable “seductive conduct” in front of Cyril Ramaphosa and Jacob Zuma.
The Sunday Times, however, concluded that Mbambani had been encouraging of the messages from Radebe. She changed her story that she had never sent him explicit pictures of herself when the paper showed her the evidence, saying she may have been intoxicated when she sent the topless photo.
Radebe failed to provide an official response on the matter.
Twitter has been trending with comments on the story since its publication on Sunday morning, most of them satirical: