Athol Trollip’s wife receives death and rape threats

A case of intimidation has reportedly been opened with Eastern Cape police after Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip’s wife, Janine, received threatening text messages that warned she would be raped and murdered if her husband failed to provide land to residents.

HeraldLIVE reported on Tuesday that on Friday, the mayor and his wife, including a Herald journalist, received similar threats from an unknown sender demanding land in Wells Estate, Port Elizabeth.

The text messages to Janine and the reporter are said to have been sent within minutes of each other and came from the same cellphone number.

“Tell your pig we want our land you f***ing bitch or we will rape and kill you [motherf***er],” the text sent to Janine reportedly stated.

While a message sent to Trollip read: “We the people of Wells want our land back or we will kill you white pig, and we know where you stay in Walmer and your bitch, Janine, mnqundu [asshole].”

Wells has seen several service delivery protests in recent months, according to the report.

Trollip has condemned the threats directed at his wife.

“I am prepared to look after myself. I have been a politician for 22 years. But when people threaten my wife, who is not involved in politics, it is simply not acceptable,” he said.

Janine said she was not “nervous at all”, and thought the messages were “just petty threats to intimidate us”.

“When he [Trollip] embarked on this job, we knew there would be threats and intimidation. He is upsetting a lot of people, as he is uncovering a whole lot,” she said.

Kristoff Adelbert, Trollip’s chief of staff‚ said the metro police and Atlas Security were assisting with extra protection.

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