‘I haven’t even met deputy president’
For 31-year-old Nonhlanhla Radebe, whose Facebook profile picture was portrayed in a poster to be one of the women having an affair with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, it was a harrowing weekend.
Radebe, who was named in questions to Ramaphosa by the journalist writing the report, has further said she was never contacted for comment on the matter.
She denied having a relationship with Ramaphosa or having even met him. Her only link, she says, is that she is also an ANC member of the Sefako Makgatho branch in Johannesburg.
“I feel extremely angry and feel like my privacy has been violated. This kind of [publicity] should never be allowed to happen, when someone can form any story and put a picture on a poster. I am receiving calls about this from family all over the world,” she told The Citizen.
An engineer, Radebe, who is also studying abroad at the Technical University of Berlin, is presently in South Africa to collect data for her PhD thesis, which she says is being done in collaboration with the City of Tshwane.
“I am yet to explain to my fiance about what’s going on – it’s disturbing that this has happened. I feel sorry for the deputy president and what he and his family must be going through.
“It is not good to use the media to settle political scores. The deputy president has always presented himself as a father figure. I have never met him but I know this by reading about him – I am not sure why they chose my picture and [put it] on the poster.”
She added that she would have to take legal steps to rectify the matter, as other people in South Africa commonly have the same name that she does. “I will have to handle this legally – I need my picture out of circulation.
“I am doing my PhD and it has implications on my image. I am getting a lot of calls and Facebook and Twitter requests.
“Some people are being rude. They are calling me a makhwapheni – someone that’s is a side chick. I am not like that – I have a fiance.”
The Sefako Makgatho branch in a statement said while it was concerned about the reports on Ramaphosa, it “will not be deterred by such malicious intends to dent his image”.