Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. Picture: (Beeld/Felix Dlangamandla/Gallo Images)
“Please do not be surprised by dirty political games from now till December. It’s going to be dirty! The stakes are high‚ be careful.”
That is the stern warning from former Reserve Bank governor and ANC member Tito Mboweni at the weekend after a Sunday Times report alleged that Jeff Radebe, the minister in the presidency, engaged in “raunchy text and email communication” with a 29-year-old GCIS staffer he apparently requested nude pictures from.
Radebe, the longest serving Cabinet minister, has been seen as a possible candidate for the ANC’s top job to replace Jacob Zuma as party president in December when the governing party elects a new leader. But the report could damage the 64-year-old’s chances of taking over party reins, with the race being closely contested by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and former AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
In his tweets, Mboweni cautioned that the presidential race was a high-stakes challenge, and “good people’s names will be tarnished”.
The former governor warned politicians hoping to contest for positions in the ANC to be careful about what they shared on social networking sites.
He tweeted: “Privacy will be thrown to the dogs of war! I am out of here till January 2018! Bye,” possibly hinting that he intended to contend for a position at the December conference.