The Mineral Resources and Energy minster Gwede Mantashe is under fire after Sunday World editor Makhudu Sefara claimed he kept phone records that proves the minster bribed his way out of his current sexual scandal.
The Sunday World reported that the member of cabinet claimed he had paid two journalists to bury a story about his intimate relationship with a young lady, Lerato Habiba Makgatho.
It is reported that he paid the unnamed journalists up to R70 000 to get rid of the evidence.
The editor is keen on challenging the minister to sue them because he now denies all the allegations. He also mentioned that the minister did not think this through before creating all this problem to himself.
"We reject the claim by the minister that he never said he paid two journalists. Not only did he say this to the reporter; I as the editor also called him to verify the claims that were in the article before me. Mr Mantashe, in very clear terms, told me that he paid the reporter's colleagues," Sefara told News24 on Tuesday.
"Mr Mantashe is now between a rock and a hard place. He made the claim without, I suppose, applying his mind clearly to the seriousness of the claims he was making. Now, when he is required to provide evidence to back up his own claims, he changes his mind. He can't have his cake and eat it.
"We will contradict whatever Mr Mantashe is saying to distance himself from the case."
The Sunday World is confident that if the matter gets to the hands of a judge they will provide every valuable resources to support their claims.
"If he had done any basic research about who I am as an editor, he would know I don't play games. He can't make claims that he paid two journalists and, when he's called upon to name the journalists or provide the evidence, he doesn't want to.
"If Mr Mantashe is so convinced that we misquoted him, and implicated him in criminal conduct, as the editor, I challenge him to sue us. He must go to court. We have our ducks in a row," Sefara said
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