Herman Mashaba has condemned Minister Gayton McKenzie for boasting about taxpayer-funded security, saying ActionSA will pursue criminal intimidation charges over the threats.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba says the party will lay intimidation charges against Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie following remarks made about its Member of Parliament, Dereleen James, during a Facebook Live broadcast.
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Mashaba said he was “quite shocked” after McKenzie posted a Facebook Live in which he boasted about security paid for by taxpayers and told James to “watch herself.''
In the Facebook Live, McKenzie said: “Let Dereleen and Kurt have a good time with my name. A very good time. Let them have a good time with my name. It’s okay. The path is long. Path is long. I am 24-7 with security. Outside my house now, there’s security. So I want to put it out here. I know who’s behind Kurt. It’s fine. Enjoy my name. Do what you want to do. All right.”
“I found this actually deeply worrying and concerning,” Mashaba said.
He said he contacted James to establish the facts and determined that the dispute stemmed from issues she had raised in Parliament.
“These issues are not emanating from street corners. They emanate from Parliament,” he said.
According to Mashaba, James had questioned McKenzie’s “extravagant and regular international travels” and his alleged failure to account for them.
IOL previously reported that James had previously criticised McKenzie, saying he “has once again chosen evasion over accountability by failing to fully account for the costs associated with more than 20 luxury, taxpayer-funded trips undertaken, as required by the official parliamentary question.”
James described the Minister’s response as “a bloated travelogue masquerading as a clear answer to the full cost breakdown requested and required,” noting that both McKenzie and his Deputy had failed to disclose the actual expenses of numerous international trips.
She had also asked KwaZulu Natal Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi during a committee meeting whether police had investigated the presence of Patriotic Alliance deputy president Kenny Kunene at the residence of alleged criminal figure Katiso 'KT' Molefe at the time of an arrest.
Mashaba said ActionSA would not accept what it viewed as intimidation.
“I cannot accept - we cannot accept, as ActionSA, that anyone would use a threat. We come from a very difficult past, where some of us still don’t know what happened to our families under the apartheid regime.
''Now, 24 years into a democratic dispensation, some of us are among the biggest taxpayers in this country,'' he said.
He added that the party had begun consulting its legal team and that James would be required to open a criminal case.
“I really require her to lay criminal charges of intimidation against the minister,” Mashaba said, adding that “we are the last people to really be intimidated by anyone”.
Mashaba also criticised McKenzie’s reference to his security detail, saying it was unacceptable for a minister to “boast about having 24-hour security” funded by taxpayers while implying that another MP did not have similar protection.
He said ActionSA would also seek to have James’s risk profile assessed in light of the remarks.
The dispute has played out publicly on social media, where James questioned whether the minister’s comments amounted to a threat.
“Sies! Are you threatening me? Are you insinuating I don’t have security?” she wrote.
She linked the matter to her parliamentary oversight, adding: “All this because you delayed on responding to ActionSA’s parliamentary question on your travel expense? All this because I questioned Kenny’s presence at Molefe’s house?”
“If this isn’t thuggish behaviour coming from a whole minister, then I don’t know what is!” she said, warning: “If anything happens to me or anyone close to me, SA remember this!!”
In a now-deleted post, McKenzie denied threatening James.
“Dear Dereleen, I don’t threaten ladies, I said I have full time security with me and when would I have time to sell drugs?” he wrote.
He said her questions about his travel and Kunene’s alleged presence at Molefe’s residence had nothing to do with him saying the road is long and indicated he would pursue legal action.
“I will deal with you legally sooner than you think,” McKenzie said. “You guys live for lies and sympathy. You even cutting my live to suit your agenda. Keep having fun with my name, my fun is coming soon,'' said Mckenzie.
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