CABINET CASANOVA
Fight over Mr Home Affairs hots up
THE women in Malusi Gigaba’s life may not be on the best of terms, but they all have similar tastes when it comes to fashion.
Chanel bags and Christian Louboutin shoes, which sell for up to R60 000, are firm favourites of the home affairs minister’s wife, Norma, his former wife, Thabong, and his former alleged mistress, Buhle Mkhize.
The Instagram accounts of Norma and Mkhize are packed with sexy images of themselves dressed to the nines.
A friend of New York-based fashionista Mkhize said Gigaba had lavished expensive gifts on Mkhize, including a red Chanel bag and Tom Ford shoes during their relationship.
But expensive accessories were not the only items Gigaba splashed out on. The friend said he paid for Mkhize to stay at luxury hotels during her visits from New York, including the Hilton in Durban, and the Vineyard and 15 on Orange in Cape Town.
“It’s a shock the amount of money he gives her and any time she breaks off the relationship he buys her a trip and pays her more money,” said an e-mail from a woman claiming to be a friend of Mkhize’s.
The friend said he visited the Hilton “as himself and she visits in his room, but in Cape Town they use other names and he drives cars of his friends”.
Mkhize’s friend claimed Gigaba paid for Mkhize and friends to fly to the Dominican Republic last year. Photographs on Instagram, which Mkhize has since deleted from her account, detail their lavish soirees.
Claims of an affair surfaced in October this year when an online spat broke out between Mkhize and Norma about Mkhize’s relationship with Gigaba. Norma called Mkhize a “prostitute” and “uneducated”, but Mkhize hit back, saying she had two degrees, whereas Norma “can’t write a complete sensible sentence”.
This week, Gigaba told the Sunday Times: “Like many families we face challenges and like many families we still want to deal with those privately. On the substantive matter there has been no abuse of state resources on my part . . . whoever resorts to the defaming accusations has the responsibility to report it to the authorities.”
He has not admitted to wrongdoing other than “exposing” his family to Mkhize and her “sinister motives”.
But cellphone records, obtained by the Sunday Times, show that he called her several times last year and this year. One call lasted 31 minutes and on another occasion he called five times.
The EFF is calling for an investigation into Gigaba’s affairs, including allegedly using “state resources for marital infidelity and money laundering”.
In 2007, Gigaba was taken to task for spending more than R1 000 of taxpayers’ money to buy flowers for Thabong, who has also been spotted in redsoled Louboutin heels. They separated in 2010.
A year later, Norma was on his arm at his 40th birthday, but their cosy relationship was given a shake-up when a man sued him for wrecking his marriage.
Lucas Sondlane claimed Gigaba had an affair with his wife, Gugu Nkosi. Intimate SMSes surfaced. In one exchange Gigaba tells Nkosi: “I wish we were making luv.” The outcome of the lawsuit is not known and Sondlane refused to comment this week.
In August last year, Gigaba and Norma tied the knot — but if Mkhize’s version of events is true, Gigaba was seducing her at the time.
In an online statement on November 30, entitled “My Affair With Malusi Gigaba Is Over & I’m Sorry”, Mkhize said he began sending her messages after randomly following her on Instagram in July last year.
She was shocked when she discovered he had got married without telling her.
But she forgave him and they met in person. But then Norma “came for me with no fail”, and so started the heated online exchanges.
On Tuesday, Gigaba posted a short statement on Instagram in response to her accusations. He said he had more pertinent issues to address.
“However, the source of this defamation has developed an unhealthy obsession with my family. My family, in particular my wife, have been subjected to a protracted campaign of public embarrassment and cyber harassment. I could resort to exposing the fabrications and blatant inconsistencies in these allegations but I can only blame myself for befriending a person who had sinister motives,” he wrote. He also warned that he was seeking legal advice. Mkhize’s response? She threatened to expose even more details of their liaison — “. . . just keep poking me”.
I can only blame myself for befriending a person who had sinister motives