Man accused of blackmailing Zuma’s wife might go free

A Tanzanian man accused of intimidating one of President Jacob Zuma’s wives applied for a formal bail application in a KwaZulu-Natal court yesterday. Zuma’s wife Nompumelelo Ntuli – commonly known as MaNtuli – claimed that Steven John Masunga tried to force her to arrange a business meeting for him with Zuma. The offence allegedly took place on January 15. Magistrate Thys Taljaard on Monday told prosecutor Ndoda January that at least a part of the offence Masunga allegedly committed had to have occurred in the magisterial district for him to have jurisdiction over the matter. The issue of jurisdiction arose when Masunga’s legal aid lawyer Mdu Thuketana sought to have his client detained at the Camperdown police cells rather than in prison for safety reasons. Thuketana said his client, who lives in Durban, had been promised by police that he would be kept at the Camperdown police cells for his safety. The 29-year-old man who threatened to expose “secrets” about first lady MaNtuli’s bodyguard was arrested in Durban last Friday for extortion. According to a South African Newspaper, the Sunday Independent, the accused contacted a number of newspapers last week making sensational claims about MaNtuli. “The Sunday Independent’s sister newspaper, the Sunday Tribune, got him to reduce his story to a statement he made to the newspaper’s attorneys. In it he claims he received repeated payments from MaNtuli, amounting to about R200 000, over a three-year period. He emphatically denied he was blackmailing Zuma’s second wife, saying she hired him to secure mining rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said the newspaper. It added that Ongolo also claimed to “know too much about her” and said he was prepared to testify to this in a court of law. Chilling details According to the paper, Ongolo said the secrets are centred around MaNtuli’s “close friendship” with her bodyguard Phinda Thomo, who reportedly committed suicide by shooting himself in the bathtub of his rented Soweto house in 2009. “Chilling details of a plot to kill Thomo are contained in an e-mail Ongolo sent to newspapers this week, in which he claimed the suicide was in fact murder. It was alleged in newspaper reports at the time that Thomo killed himself after learning that a Zulu newspaper was working on a story about an alleged affair between him and the first lady, who later became pregnant,” said the newspaper. At the time of his death, Thomo’s fiancée, Lerato Shabangu, questioned the circumstances of his suicide. Meanwhile, speaking to the Sunday Tribune this week, Ongolo said he had never blackmailed MaNtuli, but said he believed it was now time for the truth to come out. “There are things that Thomo knew that MaNtuli didn’t want to come out. If Thomo was alive, he would have brought a challenge to the issue of the baby.” Describing himself as a long-time friend of MaNtuli’s, Ongolo also claimed he had met and had lunch with Zuma, at his homestead in Nkandla, without undergoing security clearance, after travelling in MaNtuli’s government-issued car. He claimed he was introduced to her by Correctional Services minister and former KwaZulu-Natal premier S’bu Ndebele. He said he met Ndebele and his wife Zama through former eThekwini mayor Obed Mlaba. He said he met Mlaba after a protest by immigrants in Durban where he acted as an interpreter. Contacted yesterday Mlaba said: “I do not know that man and I have never personally required the services of an interpreter”. Ongolo said he decided to speak out because he was “tired” of receiving threatening SMSes from MaNtuli. He produced an SMS which he claims was from MaNtuli. It reads: “Steven, what you are doing to me is wrong. I took you as my brother, I trusted you with my secrets. Now you are turning against me. What have I done wrong? Change your mind and please don’t talk to the media as it will not only destroy me but my husband. I know my enemies are at work, but not you Steven. Don’t do this to me. I have money to change your life. Think Steven.” Asked why he was only coming out with the allegations now Ongolo said he feared for his own life and also wanted the truth to be told