Johannesburg - With Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba’s alleged former mistress Buhle Mkhize airing their dirty laundry across the internet for all to see, Gigaba and his wife Noma are scrambling to save face and discredit Mkhize.
On Monday, Mkhize’s 4 000-word open letter published on a gossip website detailed every step of her alleged year-long relationship with Gigaba. She recounted the steamy messages sent by Gigaba, and the catty remarks his wife sent her when she found out about the tryst.
On Tuesday, the skirmish escalated as the warring parties sought to set the record straight. Gigaba put out a statement on Instagram, calling Mkhize a stalker and sinister. Later he deleted the message.
“I did not want to address this as more pertinent issues such as building my family and serving my country are much more important.
“However, the source of this defamation has developed an unhealthy obsession with my family,” he said.
“The more my family and I have attempted to be graceful and be above the attention-seeking slander, the more it has intensified. My family, in particular my wife, have been subjected to a protracted campaign of public embarrassment and cyber harassment.”
Gigaba said Mkhize's words were lies and he blamed himself for “befriending a person who had sinister motives”.
“I regret exposing my family to such an individual but truly can only blame myself,: he said.
At first, Mkhize’s responses were subtle. She put up memes of the minister’s face, repeating the things he said about her and wrote: “Okay, I’m DONE. I stand by my novel published yesterday no matter what the world thinks of me. To those questioning the existence of my marriage, why? Because I have no happy Instagram pictures to prove it? Whatever and NO, my husband is not stupid but supportive because I admitted my guilt.”
She said she’d never let Gigaba “make statements that make (her) look like a psychopath and do nothing”. She threatened that if they “keep poking her” she’d reveal more damning information.
Noma, on the other hand, didn’t address the matter straight up but rather posted a vague Instagram message saying: “Breaking down for who?
“You are strong enough to make it through tough situations, build strong people, don’t run away, no matter how hard they try to break or shake you, just keep standing, don’t let anyone write your own story, let them burn.” - Additional reporting by Sphelele Ngubane
The Star
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