DA man in job-for-sex scandal

Plettenberg Bay - 110719 - Current Mayor of the Bitou Municipality Memory Booysen speaks to the Cape Times at the Plettenberg Bay municipality. He has a permanent bodyguard and has to wear a bullet proof vest for his safety. Reporter: Quinton Mtyala Picture: David Ritchie

Plettenberg Bay - 110719 - Current Mayor of the Bitou Municipality Memory Booysen speaks to the Cape Times at the Plettenberg Bay municipality. He has a permanent bodyguard and has to wear a bullet proof vest for his safety. Reporter: Quinton Mtyala Picture: David Ritchie

Published May 26, 2016

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Cape Town - The DA’s poster boy for good governance in the Bitou Municipality, Memory Booysen, is at the centre of a job-for-sex scandal after a steamy WhatsApp exchange - allegedly between him and an unknown woman wanting a job - was widely circulated in DA circles.

Booysen, who leads the DA/Cope-run Bitou council as the executive mayor, has denied he was part of the saucy WhatsApp text exchange, which originates from his number, saying he will conduct a thorough investigation into all those who had access to his phone.

Seen as a DA success story, Booysen was even described by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille as a mayor of courage, principle and integrity in 2011 when he first stood for the post.

Zille, several MECs, the media and opposition party members were among those copied in on an e-mail, which contained the transcripts of the WhatsApp exchange, predominantly written in Xhosa.

The correspondence, which spans one month from January 15 to February 19, clearly shows the woman addressing the person as “mayor” in Xhosa as she repeatedly asks for a job.

In one text, the woman, known only as Pumi, explains she used to work at a library but stopped because of “certain reasons”. She asks: “Please can you make a plan. What I can do for you will be big.”

The person’s response of “how big” was met with: “Very, very big. I wouldn’t lie to you. My children are impoverished at the moment.”

The chats are laced with explicit language, sexual frustration and innuendo referring to how he likes “wet things” like a woman’s”Garden of Eden”. He practically begs Pumi to send a picture of herself, wearing nothing but a dress according to the exchange, and wanting to know if she “still wants” him.

But Pumi maintains she would only do that if she could get a job.

“So do you promise the position,” she wrote as she asked for a position at the library in town, advertised in December and for which she had applied, dropping the name of the relevant person who should be pressured to hire her, saying: “Please speak to Mrs Johnston about it. You won’t regret it.”

During another exchange, Pumi suggests she could have travelled with the person to Cape Town. The response is: “That’s risky nje... my body will want you.”

Asked for comment, Booysen said: “I want to categorically state that the alleged texts’ to Pumi could not have originated from me, even if according to your records, the said texts originated from my mobile number.

“The only Pumi on my mobile contact list is a blood relative, residing in the Bitou jurisdiction.”

The mayor added his communication to Pumi, as a relative, always related to family issues, and traditional and cultural matters pertaining to their family and clan.

“The inference of the alleged texts is not only regrettable and deeply hurtful, but deserves to be denounced with the contempt that it deserves.”

He stressed that texts of any inappropriate nature would be “against every personal, moral, ethical and principled belief and values I hold dear to and advocate”. “Now that I’m aware of the existence of these fabricated and/or unauthorised texts generated from my mobile phone, I would conduct an investigation among the various individuals who ordinarily enjoy access to my phone,” he said.

Booysen said it was possible that there could have been unauthorised access to his phone, because direct support staff in his office were allowed unsupervised access, particularly while he was in transit or during official engagements. “By the same token, in my family and social environment, the phone is often left unattended as well, with the possibility and potential for access by anyone, including friends and/or even visitors to my home.”

The DA said it believed the allegations to be a ploy to discredit Booysen. The DA said it believed “the allegations contained in an e-mail sent by a seemingly anonymous source, under the pseudonym of Maxwell Jamangile, form part of a broader and concerted attempt to discredit the mayor of Bitou, Memory Booysen.”

“This is not the first time that unfounded and sensational allegations about DA public representatives have been distributed from this e-mail address,” DA spokeswoman Liza Albrecht said.

She said Booysen denied any involvement in the alleged communication. “The information in the e-mail is completely unverifiable in nature and does not come from a trusted source. As such the party can only act if there is credible and verifiable evidence to substantiate the allegations.”

Attempts to reach the author of the e-mail leaking the alleged exchange were unsuccessful.

[email protected]

Cape Argus

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