Cape Town - Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor has accused President Jacob Zuma of trying his luck with her twice.
Mentor says in her new book, No Holy Cows, that Zuma tried his luck with her while he was deputy president of the country.
Mentor claimed on Thursday that she rejected Zuma on two occasions, once while she was a younger ANC member in the early 1990s, and the second time when she was chairperson of the ANC caucus in the mid-2000s.
“Zuma tried his luck with me on two occasions. I dealt with him and continued with my work. But he continued to prey on women,” the outspoken Mentor told the Cape Town Press Club.
She also expressed regret for not speaking out sooner, as this may have saved the life of the woman who accused Zuma of rape, Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo aka ‘Khwezi’. Zuma went on trial and was found not guilty in May 2006.
Mentor alleges that, at a party conference in Durban-Westville 25 years ago, Zuma came on to her by her by inviting her to his hotel room.
When she told him she had to look after her three-month-old baby, he said he could arrange for a babysitter and that a car could be sent for her, but she wasn’t interested.
The second time it happened in Zuma’s office while he was deputy president, and she was chairperson of the ANC caucus.
She met Zuma at his office at his request. She said Zuma dismissed his two guards, saying he was “surely not in danger from her”.
They sat on separate couches, but he eventually sat next to her and kept moving closer, until she put her handbag between them.
She left the meeting midway.
Mentor says she is willing to take the matter to court.
The Presidency said there would be “no comment” until after the book was published.