What's up isn't a conspiracy, just WhatsApp: BLF

A letter the Black First Land First movement sent to the parliamentary committee interrogating state capture at Eskom was "copied" from a letter sent to the same committee by Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown days before.

This is according to Brown's spokesman, Colin Cruywagen, who said yesterday journalists should ask the BLF why they copied the letter.

Brown wrote two letters to the committee chairman on August 8 and again on October 16 "seeking clarity" on the terms of reference and the nature of the inquiry. The BLF's letter was sent on October 19, Cruywagen explained.

"Minister Brown made it clear she will comply with the parliamentary process and co-operate fully with the portfolio committee," Cruywagen said.

The similarity between BLF leader Andile Mngxitama's and Brown's letters questioning the inquiry into Eskom raised eyebrows on social media.

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu tweeted photographs of the two letters.

"We said all along that DPE and BLF Gupta militia are run from the same Saxonwold office," Shivambu tweeted.

The letters are remarkably similar. The questions are phrased in the exact same manner and order and deal with the same topics and concerns.

Mngxitama said he had "found" the questions on a WhatsApp group.

"It's not the whole letter; only the relevant questions. I found the questions on a what's up [sic] group as I was writing to parliament and couldn't locate [the] author," he said.