Tlhabi, Zuma spat heightens
WITH radio personality Redi Tlhabi pressing on with her legal bid to get a right to cross-examine former president Jacob Zuma, his supporters are accusing her of exploiting the publicity of the state capture commission to make a name for herself.
They alleged Tlhabi is trying to gain publicity by appearing before the commission to scrutinise the former president even though she wrongfully wrote a book based on charges of which Zuma was acquitted in 2006.
Tlhabi’s supporters are arguing for her to force Zuma to retract claims that she is working on a documentary that seeks to portray him as a rapist. They are also urging her to lay criminal charges against some of the people threatening to harm her and her family as a result of the growing spat.
Prominent Zuma supporter Nkosentsha Shezi, Radical Economic Transformation champion, told Independent Media that Tlhabi was a “white monopoly capital stooge” and they were puzzled by her bid. The book Shezi was referring to is Khwezi – The Remarkable Story Of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo. The late Khuzwayo accused Zuma of rape.
“People like her are just a distraction. You can only wonder if she is not paid somewhere to cause chaos around president Zuma,” he said.
Although Tlhabi’s application to the commission to cross-examine Zuma is yet to be heard, another Zuma supporter, Carl Niehaus, spokesperson of the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association, said he was no legal guru, but subjecting Zuma to a questioning session that touches on an issue he was acquitted of would fuel perceptions that the commission was veering off the rails.
Niehaus stressed that allowing Tlhabi an opportunity to cross-examine the ex-head of state would help her to use the commission for “propaganda purposes”.
In an interview with Talk Radio 702 host Eusebius McKaiser yesterday, Tlhabi refuted Zuma’s claims that she was trying to assassinate his character, saying she knew nothing about the alleged movie production mentioned by the former president last week during his testimony at the state capture commission of inquiry.