Mantashe’s department says he lied about paying journalists R70K to kill sex scandal

“For the ANC, media freedom and the independence of the media are sacrosanct.”

In an edition of Sunday World, Mantashe was reported as admitting he paid two Sunday World journalists R70,000 to make a story involving his alleged sordid sex life with a “slay queen” disappear.

According to the publication, Mantashe “declined” to answer their questions “and instead claimed he previously paid two Sunday World journalists R70,000 in total for the story to go away”.

The story was published as the newspaper’s lead anyway, with Mantashe reportedly saying the journalist who contacted him was the “third person” who wanted to run with it, and that he refused to pay again.

READ MORE: Mantashe admits to paying journalists R70K to make sex scandal go away – Ndlozi

He told the publication that he “begged” for the story not to be written.

Sunday World editor and publisher Makhudu Sefara said he took Mantashe’s claims very seriously, as they implicated his journalists, saying this kind of thing would not be tolerated and that he wanted Mantashe to come forward with names, after which he said there would be “consequences”.

The story Mantashe tried to squash details how the minister, who is married, was a “tiger in bed” who allegedly gave 26-year-old student and aspiring actress Lerato Makgatho payments of R10,000 – R15,000 at a time, and complained when approached for more money that he had already forked out R70,000 in total.

Makgatho in the article describes Mantashe as a “better blesser” than Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, who she allegedly also slept with, as well as a “tiger in bed”. The story is accompanied with screenshots from what appear to be WhatsApp messages between her and the two ministers.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)