South Africa – Johannesburg – 19 July 2019 – Former President Zuma arriving at the State Capture commission of inquiry as the witness into the State Cature in Parktown Johannesburg.Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi/African News Agency(ANA)
Redi Tlhabi refuses to back down amid threats on her life
Redi Tlhabi has claimed that former president Jacob Zuma’s testimony at the Zondo commission has resulted in her and her family receiving death threats.
South Africa – Johannesburg – 19 July 2019 – Former President Zuma arriving at the State Capture commission of inquiry as the witness into the State Cature in Parktown Johannesburg.Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi/African News Agency(ANA)
Journalist Redi Tlhabi reveals she has received death threats following Jacob Zuma’s testimony at the Zondo commission but her resolve to uphold the truth remains undeterred.
Tlhabi has allegedly come under fire from supporters of Zuma after the former South African president told the Zondo commission that Tlhabi was part of a group of people that were trying to undermine him and his reputation.
He also made a claim that she helped make a movie titled Raped by Power based on the rape allegations faced by Zuma in 2005.
Redi Tlhabi accuses Zuma of lying
However, Tlhabi has denied being part of any secretive group with the goal of destroying Zuma, said she has not been part of any movie based on the former head of state, and accused him of lying under oath to the commission.
“It is bigger than defamation, it is not defamation. He accused me of getting information to foreign sources and dark forces in order to bring him down. It is a very serious accusation,” she told Eusebius McKaiser on Radio 702.
According to Tlhabi, this is not an issue she can back down from.
“I realised these cannot be dismissed as delusions of a former head of state because, number one, he is a former head of state and what comes out of his mouth is significant,” she said.
“Secondly, people are busy on social media asking why do I bother. I bother precisely because if the commission is to restore its dignity, then it is very important that the content and the matters that it deals with are of a serious nature.
“A former head of state thought I was so important that I ought to be located within the deliberations of the commission. If somebody can tell a brazen lie under oath, then it is appropriate to question what else is he lying about.”
Death threats
She has not been deterred by threats of being necklaced, a barbaric practice in which a person is tortured, and most often killed, by placing a rubber tyre filled with petrol around their neck and set alight.
“I have screenshots of people who actually threatened my children and me,” she said.
“I was threatened with death, people said I deserve the tyre and petrol. My husband and kids were called all sorts of names. Somebody said I must watch my children.”
She has even made an application to the Zondo commission to be allowed to cross-examine Zuma.
