Was Vytjie Taped By A Spy?

Audio clips and ‘stolen’ recordings of Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture interviews are washing up at media houses as party factions fire salvoes in PR war.

- Jonathan Erasmus and Desiree Erasmus

AUDIO CLIPS LEAKED TO NOSEWEEK of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela interviewing former ANC MP and caucus chair Vytjie Mentor, months before the release of Madonsela’s State of Capture report, suggest there may have been a spy in the Protector’s office.

Noseweek was sent the clips in late November from an ANC member with close ties to President Jacob Zuma. Noseweek has verified the recordings.

When Noseweek asked if the ANC member had additional audio material, a second clip of a different section of the interview was quickly supplied.

According to the ANC member, the recordings were distributed amongst Zuma’s inner circle, apparently via a confidential ANC WhatsApp group.

The ANC member urged Noseweek to focus on the contents of the interview, evidently unaware or indifferent to the fact that the probable presence of a spy or informant during a privileged investigation was a crime.

The ANC member refused to divulge from whom the clips were received, but reiterated that they were key to proving that Madonsela and Mentor were part of “white monopoly capital” interests – including ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu and Secretary General Gwede Mantashe – who, the person alleged, were “working with foreign forces to topple the president and the ANC”.

It is not clear whether other recordings were made, as the ANC member soon clammed up.

Nevertheless, in December, the new Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said she had opened a case at Brooklyn Police Station in Pretoria, “requesting an investigation into the alleged leaks to establish if they amount to a breach of Section 7(2) of the Public Protector Act”.