Johannesburg - Deputy Home Affairs Minister Njabulo Nzuza stands accused of allegedly kidnapping and raping a woman at a state house in Kenilworth, Cape Town, in December last year.
He is further accused of then paying her two friends R150 000 for their silence.
The woman, identified only as Ntombi in two internal police reports seen by The Sunday Independent, has been missing since the night of the alleged kidnapping, December 14, 2022, and no missing person report has been filed so far, according to police.
Four bodyguards of the deputy minister confirmed the incident to The Sunday Independent, and said they were instructed by Nzuza not to open the gate for the police.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe this week confirmed that “the SAPS is aware of an incident that happened in December at a state property in Kenilworth, Cape Town”.
“Police responded to the incident and, following a preliminary investigation, police did not find any evidence of such an incident. Police gained access to the property and were not prevented access, as reported.
“Following this incident, no missing person report was filed with the police. Anyone who has new information on this particular incident is encouraged to come forward and report the matter to their nearest police station,” Mathe said.
An internal police report, obtained by The Sunday Independent this week, reveals that Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence, from Claremont police station in Cape Town, went to Nzuza’s official residence after he received a phone call from a woman who claimed she had been kidnapped and raped.
Lawrence traced her location to Nzuza, but on arrival the deputy minister’s bodyguards refused to open the gate for him.
Lawrence was forced to call for back-up, and the bodyguards were finally forced to open the gate.
“Two ladies were found at the premises. They claimed they were three, and visited the brother of the deputy minister of home affairs last night. The third lady is apparently missing and in need of help, (and) hence the ladies refuse to leave the premises.”
“According to Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence, it was the third lady, by the name of Ntombi, who phoned and said she needed help, but she was not found and, according to the other two ladies, she is now missing,” the report states.
Nzuza fired four of his bodyguards and accused them of misdemeanours, including stealing from his house.
The policeman claims in the report that a man who said he was Nzuza’s brother was actually a visitor who was only awakened when police stormed into the house, and that he has “nothing to do with the ladies”, one of the bodyguards, who was fired, said.
“The three ladies arrived in a Polo in the middle of the night as the deputy minister’s guests, and our principal told us to open for them. They went to the main house, while the visitor was sleeping at the guest quarters,” the bodyguard, who asked not to be named, explained.
“The two ladies were paid R150 000 for their silence, and we still don’t know what happened to the third lady,” the bodyguard said.
The Sunday Independent managed to trace Nzuza’s visitor, who confirmed the incident and stressed that the ladies were Nzuza’s guests.
“The deputy minister must answer your questions because I don’t know anything, as I was sleeping in the guest room until I heard the commotion in the morning, and when I woke up the whole place was full of police,” he said.
Nzuza failed to answer questions sent to him, but instead sent an intermediary to beg this reporter not to write the story, because he would lose his job. These are the questions that Nzuza failed to answer:
1. Can you confirm or deny that police came to your house in Kenilworth, Cape Town, on December 14 last year after a woman called them to report that you had allegedly kidnapped and raped her?
2. Can you confirm or deny that your bodyguards refused to open the gate for the police for more than two hours?
3. Can you confirm or deny that the alleged rape victim’s friends were paid R150 000 for their silence?
4. Can you confirm or deny that you fired two of your bodyguards for allegedly stealing large sums of money from your bags?
5. Can you explain where the money came from?
6. Can you confirm or deny that your bodyguards have been collecting money, believed to be bribes, from different individuals who are suspected of having paperwork problems with the Department of Home Affairs?
7. Can you confirm or deny that you have been sending your bodyguards to deposit large sums of money in various bank accounts, some of them belonging to individuals and entities that were building your house in KwaZulu-Natal and renovating your other property in Blue Valley, Midrand?
8. Can you confirm or deny that you fired two more bodyguards last week after they refused to go and collect money from some businesspeople in Cape Town?
9. Can you confirm or deny that you rented out a room in the state house in Cape Town to someone who was paying you a monthly rental for it?
10. Can you confirm or deny that you recently reported a case of a “mysterious firearm found in your safe” and the theft of R1.5 million from your house?
Colonel Lawrence also refused to speak, stating he was not authorised to speak to the media. However, he confirmed the incident.
Two police officers from Claremont police station, who asked not to be named, claim they have attended several similar incidents involving ladies complaining about Nzuza at the same house.
“That house is a crime scene. We might not have first-hand information of what is happening in there, but the deputy minister has a serious problem with the ladies,” one of the officers said.