CARIEN DU PLESSIS
Political Bureau
HUMAN Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has said he fears for his life after a purported intelligence report placed him at the centre of a plot to topple President Jacob Zuma.
“It takes a madman or angry man to come out of a crowd, to come out with a gun and shoot at us because (he might say): ‘You are removing our president,’” Sexwale said yesterday.
He said the report, which named other high-ranking ANC figures such as Youth League leader Julius Malema, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula and police chief General Bheki Cele, might mean that those implicated would have to increase their protection.
Sexwale was accused a decade ago of being in a plot to topple then-president Thabo Mbeki.
“Over the years one had to navigate several… smear campaigns intended to harm one’s reputation… What is… different this time is that the rumour has a return address,” he said, referring to the fact that the report surfaced during the recent bail application of crime intelligence boss Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli, who is facing murder charges.