Mkhwebane claims she’s being targeted by ‘Stratcom’ like ‘Mama Winnie’ was

In a tweet on Friday afternoon, embattled Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane likened her recent treatment by the media to that of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who was famously targeted in a disinformation campaign by the National Party government.

She shared a video clip from a documentary about Strategic Communications (Stratcom), which used the media in the late 1980s and early 1990s to discredit Madikizela-Mandela in a “dirty tricks campaign”.

“Lest we forget how #WinnieMadikizelaMandela was treated by stratcom, Mama I am subjected to the same treatment and my family is also terrorized including my 89 year old mother. Aluta continue #ifIperishIperish #HappyWomenMonth,” wrote Mkhwebane.

The public protector has had a torrid few weeks, with the country’s courts slamming her judgments, the president of the country questioning her understanding of the law and one magazine even asking on its front cover if she should be considered an enemy of the state.

The EFF, which has strongly supported Mkhwebane’s recent reports against Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa, has also drawn parallels between Stratcom, Madikizela-Mandela and the treatment Mkhwebane. The EFF in any event generally refers to the private media in the country as “Stratcom”, particularly whenever unflattering news reports about the party appear.

Mkhwebane was referencing the massive post-1990 security police operation designed to discredit Winnie, which was initially revealed by former police “dirty tricks” operative Paul Erasmus, and, later, others.

Erasmus admitted that a blend of fact and fiction was leaked to local and international media on Madikizela-Mandela’s alleged marital infidelity, and her alleged criminal activities with her Mandela Football Club and on the death of teenage activist Stompie, among other scandals.

Stratcom no longer exists in any official form and the label is now used as a generalised slur against the media.

On Friday, the Mail & Guardian reported that FNB is looking into whether Mkhwebane may have violated exchange control regulations for moving money between countries.

FNB allegedly flagged Mkhwebane’s account several weeks before another report about another HSBC investigation came out.

A “senior bank executive” has reportedly been looking into it.

Although Mkhwebane denied knowledge of the investigation to the M&G, it has nevertheless reported that this is allegedly not true and that Mkhwebane has in fact asked for more time to explain “several payments of odd amounts between 2014 and now”.

Her spokesperson Oupa Segwale said she’d never received payments from overseas into her FNB account, aside from an amount from Indonesia by her daughter-in-law’s parents for the daughter-in-law this year.

HSCB has reportedly been tracking down a network of Gupta-linked accounts and companies around the world.

Mkhwebane’s spokesman had also told the OCCRP that his boss had no links to the Guptas and denied receiving any money from them.

(Edited by Charles Cilliers)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.