A minister has blamed extortionists for the leaking of a sexually explicit video.
South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba claimed a leaked, viral video depicting him holding his manhood in a room was the work of individuals who tried to extort money from him.
The father of two claimed that the video, which was meant for his wife was released after he refused to pay the blackmailers.
“My wife and I have learned, with regret and sadness, that a video containing material of a sexual nature, meant for our eyes only, which was stolen when my communication got illegally intercepted/my phone got hacked, in 2016/2017, is circulating among certain political figures…,” he stated on Twitter.
“These blackmail/extortion attempts as well as the illegal interception of my communication/hacking of my phone have all been reported to the relevant law enforcement/intelligence agencies and I am advised that the resultant investigations are still continuing.”
“I take this opportunity to publicly apologise, in advance, to the rest of my family, especially my kids, my mom and my in-laws and the South African public for the pain and embarrassment the likely wider distribution of this private material will cause,” a statement by Gigaba read.
According to the State Security Agency, officials who may have been in the department at the time Gigaba claims he first reported the alleged extortion attempt will be questioned on Monday.
“The current minister was not in the office by the time of the occurrence of the incident. However, the minister is engaging the officials from within the department to get a sense of what really occurred,” the statement read.
47-year-old Gigaba was propelled from a more junior ministerial role to the post of finance minister last year before taking over the Home Affairs ministry in February 2018.
He has two young children with 37-year-old wife Noma Mngoma.
