What is it about politicians and their (alleged) inability to keep it in their pants?

Everyone knows about Monica and Bill, and if you really want to see a marriage fall apart on screen go ahead and watch Weiner (trailer HERE).

That’s a documentary about American politician Anthony Weiner, before your mind runs wild.

Anyway back to matters closer to home, and the explosive allegations against Deputy President and presidential hopeful Cyril Ramaphosa.

He lost a last-minute court bid to halt the publishing of a story alleging several extra-marital affairs, and what the Sunday Independent had to say would have made Cyril squirm.

Right off the bat they went for the jugular, with this from IOL:

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose presidential campaign is modelled on moral and ethical leadership, appears not to practise what he preaches.

Ramaphosa, who is also the chairperson of the SA National Aids Council (Sanac) and an outspoken critic of sugar daddies and “blessers”, is allegedly using his massive wealth to prey on multiple women, some of whom are university students.

They claim to have evidence linking him to at least eight women, with Ramaphosa having set up a number of fake email addresses to communicate with the women:

The e-mails go by the names of Mambo Dimbanyika, Singo Maberemisa and Mambo Velelambeu.

Some of the extra-marital relationships appear to have lasted for years, while other are more recent.

The documents state how one of the women, with whom Ramaphosa has had a relationship for years, had miscarried his baby.

She denies the allegations, saying that her company provides “property development management and quantity surveying services to all his [Ramaphosa’s] properties in Limpopo, Gauteng and the Western Cape”.

Then there’s a 29-year-old marketing student:

…the e-mail evidence shows how she has been sending erotic pictures and very intimate videos dedicated to Ramaphosa.

They also show how she and Ramaphosa met in 2012 when she was pregnant with another man’s child.

And another woman, who “appears to have doubled as Ramaphosa’s medical practitioner and lover”:

The Sunday Independent called her on her cellphone, asking to provide her e-mail address where questions could be sent. The e-mail address she provided was the same one she used in dozens of her e-mail communications with Ramaphosa.

The medical doctor failed to respond to the questions that were sent to her private e-mail address.

Having lost that last-minute bid to have the story squashed, Cyril went on the offensive. He released two statements calling the allegations a “smear campaign”, and claimed that he and his wife support 54 students and the bank transfers were to pay for study costs.

He did admit to one affair, but said it had ended years ago and he and his wife had moved past that.

One of the women named in the scandal has hit back at the allegations, with this from the Citizen:

[31-year-old Nonhlanhla Radebe] 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.

Engineer Radebe is also studying abroad at the Technical University of Berlin, and is 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 fiancé 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.”

According to Times LIVE, many believe the leaking of Ramaphosa’s private emails are a result of his speaking out against state capture and corruption whilst on the campaign trail.

So how does he fight back? Here’s political analyst Shadrack Gutto:

…Ramaphosa must fight back furiously. “He has no choice. The question is how he is going to do it,” he said.

Gutto believes the allegations were strategically designed to cause damage to Ramaphosa before December.

“He can fight it, but whether it will be enough to be able to convince [delegates to the elective conference] is another thing.

“There is a fierce fight going on within the ruling party. It is vicious and they will use everything.”

According to political analyst Ralph Matshekga, there was no doubt the recent leak came from intelligence quarters:

WMC Leaks, an anonymously run website that targets those who criticise the controversial Gupta family and their associates, started tweeting about the leaked questions and e-mails on Saturday.

Who knows what to believe, other than the fact that the ANC leadership has never been more morally bankrupt.

[sources:iol&citizen&timeslive]