'The life of Nkosazana is being threatened' says Mbalula

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula insists that former African Union (AU) chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is still receiving taxpayer-funded special VIP protection based on security threats against her.

This is despite the government saying earlier this month that she would have to sacrifice this perk when her term ended as AU chairperson in January this year.

In South Africa‚ presidential protection services are usually extended to the serving president‚ deputy president and former presidents.

• COPE lays criminal charges over Dlamini-Zuma protection sagaThe Congress of the People has laid criminal charges against Police Minister Fikile Mbalula over the Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma protection debacle. 

"The life of Nkosazana is being threatened. We do threat analysis on people and individuals whose life is threatened in society. We have done this in the past and we have been advised and received a report that says that there are issues of threat around her and that threat analysis is evaluated at all times‚” said Mbalula.

The Sunday Times reported on April 2 that Dlamini-Zuma‚ an ex-Cabinet minister and former wife of President Jacob Zuma‚ had recently visited Luthuli House with a three-car blue-light escort and an armed security detail‚ a courtesy extended to her by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation‚ that was meant to expire on March 31.

• Mbalula orders former Hawks boss Ntlemeza to vacate his office immediatelyMinister of Police Fikile Mbalula has given former Hawks boss Berning Ntlemeza a strict instruction to vacate the office immediately as he was ordered to do by a court. 

"She enjoys the security and protection precisely because the threat we conducted around her‚ has told us that she [should] maintain that security.

"The incident of the last two weeks where six armed men charged at the place that she was with balaclavas explains the threat that we are talking about. We don't need to disclose the nature of the threat but we can provide with the facts‚" added Mbalula.

• DA calls for probe into abuse of state resources for Dlamini-Zuma’s protectionThe Democratic Alliance says it is to ask the Public Protector that she urgently investigate the use of state resources to provide VIP protection to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma despite the fact that she holds no position that would justify such protection. 

Dlamini-Zuma returned from Addis Ababa‚ Ethiopia‚ on March 15 after a handover process to her successor‚ Moussa Faki Mahamat‚ who was elected in January.

During her tenure at the commission‚ she was afforded the status and protocol of a head of state‚ which included a huge security contingent.