Blue light row: Kodwa denies threat

2010-04-29 22:34

Johannesburg - Presidential media advisor Zizi Kodwa has denied a claim that he threatened to press charges against a man who complained about an alleged blue light incident in Cape Town.

But Kodwa said he did phone the man to explain that President Jacob Zuma was not in the convoy, as he had suggested.

"I said, 'Sir, can I correct the version in the statement, that the president was never in Cape Town'," Kodwa said on Thursday.

He was responding to a demand from the Democratic Alliance that the presidency explain what had happened regarding irate Capetonian Ray Wright's allegation that Kodwa threatened to charge him for bringing Zuma's reputation into disrepute.

The statement which irked Kodwa had the subject line "Zuma VIP bullying of German citizens in Cape Town" which was sent to the DA, Sky News and a person called Claudette Naik, according to the email.

Forced to stop on freeway

Wright said he only sent it to the ANC and DA and had planned to keep it private, as he only wanted an apology.

Wright wrote that he, two German potential investors in his manufacturing business, and his son were travelling to the airport on Saturday at 12:50 when they were forced to stop their car "in the middle of the freeway by a Zuma VIP van".

He continued that four heavily armed men jumped out of the van, surrounded the car and took the cellphone of one of the visitors.

The visitor then grabbed the cellphone back and voluntarily deleted pictures of Cape Town University so that he could go home with his phone.

Wright said the van was unmarked.

He concluded the email with: "All international news agencies will be contacted this week and the full story of the South African Dictatorship and how the abuse of WORKING citizens continues.

"Just when I was beginning to feel Zuma had sta(r)ted to do a good job all is lost. Stuff this country and its bananas."

Told to delete images

A subsequent statement by the DA said there were initially four Audis and the van on the N2, and that the occupants of the van stopped suddenly while the Audis left, and forced Wright to delete footage of the convoy's alleged reckless driving, even though they did not have their blue lights engaged.

The VIP convoys have enraged some motorists who believe they endanger lives as they force motorists off the road to make way for those being transported.

A Cape Town student found himself arrested after making what was interpreted as a rude gesture at a Zuma convoy. The DA statement said Wright managed to get licence plate numbers and said he reported it to the Mowbray police.

However, on Wednesday night, he received a missed call and when he phoned back, the caller did not identify himself "properly" but introduced himself as "the captain" from the president's office.

DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard said a simple Google search would bring up at least 5 000 hits to show it was Kodwa's number.

"To begin with, the individual from the president's office apparently accused the blue light bullying victim of lying in a story that appeared in the weekend press claiming that the incident must have been a hoax, since President Zuma's bodyguards had not been in Cape Town on Saturday," said Kohler-Barnard.

Email written in anger

Seemingly unaware of Wright's email, Kohler-Barnard said the victim pointed out that he had never claimed it was Zuma's convoy, only that it was a VIP protection unit.

However, when asked about the email subject line, Wright said he had been angry when he typed the email, that he initially thought the convoy had come from the president's house in Rondebosch, and that he thought it would catch the reader's eye.

"I was very angry at the time. No one in the government would talk to me... I knew he wasn't in Cape Town.

"I was in a very angry space, and I just didn't re-read it," he said, conceding that the president was not related to the convoy.

But he insisted that Kodwa said that Zuma had instructed him to phone Wright and threatened him with the charge.

"He absolutely did say they were going to press criminal charges. He repeated it a few times - that I brought the office of the presidency into disrepute."

But, countered Kodwa: "I never said that. I said you (Wright) lied about the name of the president and you now created a story that he was in Cape Town. I have no capacity to bring charges against him. He must deal with the police. He has a right to go to police."

'Life in danger'

He said that Zuma did not even know about the incident.

"I told him it is wrong to use the name of the president in a matter that you yourself have no facts about."

The man may have felt threatened, but he did not threaten him, said Kodwa.

The DA said Wright was now afraid his life was in danger and that his communication might be monitored, as there were strange noises and delays on his cellphone.

But, Wright said all he wanted was an apology to his Germany visitors.
 

- SAPA