Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has unleashed police on a man who called him and claimed that he had been hired to assassinate him.
The man, who only identified himself as Vusi, called Motsoaledi several times in December 2022 and told him that a R60 000 price tag had been attached to his head.
The man then demanded that Motsoaledi pay him R80 000 so he could abort the mission to assassinate him.
Motsoaledi refused to accede to the self-proclaimed assassin’s demand and instead opened a case of extortion against the suspect at Brooklyn police station.
An anonymous police officer, prohibited from speaking to the media, disclosed the explosive information to Sunday World.
The alleged would-be assassin called Motsoaledi, according to the detective, and informed him that they had hired him to assassinate him.
“He claimed that those who wanted the minister dead had promised to pay him R60 000. He told Motsoaledi that these people have paid him R40 000 deposit to carry out the hit.
“They promised to pay him the R20 000 balance after he had killed the minister,” said the cop.
The officer said the self-confessed would-be hitman asked Motsoaledi to pay him to spare his life.
The self-proclaimed inkabi said after receiving the money from Motsoaledi, he would go and eliminate those who had contracted him to assassinate the minister.
Motsoaledi refused to comply with the alleged hitman, and instead opened a case of extortion or blackmail against him at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria.
Sunday World saw a truncated police statement that confirmed the investigating officer’s version of events.
In the statement, which we have seen, the police said Motsoaledi was in the Waterkloof area Pretoria, when he received the calls from the alleged assassin.
“The suspect alleged that he was hired to kill the minister, and he has already been paid R40 000.00 and the balance of R 20 000 will be paid when the mission is completed. And he wants the minister to pay him R8000 to eliminate the people who hired him to kill the minister.
“He has been persistently calling the minister to deposit the money into his Capitec Bank account,” read the statement.
The case, which was registered by Sergeant RG Mathebula, was referred to the serious economic offences unit for investigation.
Hawks spokesperson Thandi Mbambo confirmed that a case of extortion has been opened at Brooklyn police station.
She said no suspect has been arrested yet and police investigations are under way. Home Affairs spokesperson, Thabo Mokgola , said Motsoaledi received a call from an individual in an attempt to extort money from him under the guise of an assassination plot. “However, the minister has never directly opened a case with any police station on this matter.
He approached the Hawks who sent officers to take a statement from him and from then on they ran with the matter,” he said. He, however, ignored some of the written questions we sent to him.
