The ex-lover of Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, has written a letter to him and asked him to suspend his adviser, Keith Khoza, to preserve the sanctity of his office.
Mbatha wrote the letter to Mashatile on Monday and co-pied President Cyril Ramaphosa in an apparent bid to amplify the seriousness of the matter.
In the letter that we have seen, Mbatha said Khoza should be suspended because she has applied for a protection order against him.
“I would like to refrain from dictating how you should respond to my plea, but I earnestly hope you will consider the countless women who look to your leadership, particularly as the second in command of the governing political party.
“Furthermore, due to the explicit warnings, I have received that instil fear regarding Mr Khoza and your perceived bias in his favour, I fear for my safety in the face of Mr Khoza’s influence. I believe that allowing him to remain in the Presidency not only serves to empower Mr Khoza but other influential men to bully women with impunity.”
Mbatha added: “This fear has been compounded by repeated warnings, including the ominous phrase, ‘Keith is Paul and Paul is Keith’, suggesting that any action against Mr Khoza could have severe consequences towards my life and that of my children,” reads the letter.
“These warnings have deterred me from defending myself against the formidable figure of Keith Khoza.”
She warned Mashatile that women who faced similar challenges and failed to overcome them often resorted to killing themselves or died of depression.
“Some of these individuals resort to drastic measures such as suicide or succumb to depression and abuse fuelled by media propaganda, leading to the collapse of livelihoods and identity theft, as in my case, where I am referred to as ‘Mashatile’s ex’ rather than by my rightful name, Norma Mbatha,” reads Mbatha’s letter.
Rahima Shaik, a director in personal support in Mashatile’s office responded to her initial -letter stating that the matter will be brought to the attention of the deputy president.
Mbatha, who broke up with Mashatile recently, applied for a protection order against Khoza at the Randburg magistrate’s court a fortnight ago.
In the application, which we have seen, Mbatha stated that she had applied for the protection order after Khoza’s lawyer, Kuvashen Padayachee, contacted Sunday World and demanded that the paper take down a story about her that we published last year.
The story was about Mbatha taking Padayachee to the Legal Practice Council (LPC) because he had obtained her personal information without her permission.
After the LPC dismissed her complaint, Mbatha said Padayachee contacted Sunday World and ordered it to take the article down because it continued to injure his reputation.
Mbatha approached the court to obtain the protection order against Khoza, saying that by contacting the media, Padayachee had violated the settlement agreement they had reached and that none of them should speak to the media about the matter.
Even though it was not -Khoza who contacted Sunday World, Mbatha said Padayachee was Khoza’s lawyer and was the one who drafted the settlement agreement on behalf of his -client.
Mbatha said that Padayachee had pushed her to the edge after sending the letter to the Sunday World regarding the dismissal of her complaint at the LPC against him. She said the agreement had stated that they had to refrain from referring to or implicating each other in any posts, media statements or interviews.
Responding to request for Khoza’s comment, Padayachee said in a letter that “the application for a protection order has no merit and is ill-conceived”.
He demanded that Sunday World desists from publishing stories about Mbatha and Khoza. He said Khoza would not vacate office.
The hearing of the application for the protection order will be held on May 14.
