'In politics, most people have the brains, or they have the money, or they have the balls. I have all three'

LIKE an episode from The Sopranos, Cape politics is coming to grips with bizarre allegations of threats, bribes and associations with "the Russian mafia".

In a province that has had more than its fair share of controversial politicians, Badih Chaaban stands out. He is a gambler who says he has faced down the "Russian" mob and now vows to topple Cape Town mayor Helen Zille too.

The Lebanese-born businessman is launching the National People's Party, which he hopes will lure enough Cape Town city councillors when the floor-crossing period opens, on Saturday, to oust the mayor.

Zille and Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille have said they will join forces to keep the former bookmaker out of the city's government.

Zille, leader of the DA, said after meeting De Lille yesterday: "There's no doubt that if he [Chaaban] gets into a position of power we will slide into a process that will result in the machinery of state being used for unlawful purposes. That's the point of no return for any democracy."

Zille accused Chaaban of offering "large amounts of money, backed by serious threats" to gain recruits to his National People's Party.

She said: "We're absolutely committed to keeping him out of any form of government in the city."

De Lille said "one or two" ID councillors had accepted payments of R5000 a month from Chaaban and were now receiving threats from him.

De Lille said: "Helen [Zille] and I have a common enemy - and that is Badih Chaaban."

Chaaban, who says he plans to form an alliance with the ANC, has rejected accusations that he has offered illegal inducements to councillors to join his party.

Despite the onslaught from two of the Cape's political heavyweights, Chaaban said yesterday: "I'm going to bring them down. In politics, most people have the brains, or they have the money, or they have the balls. I have all three."

One of Chaaban's opponents on the council, Speaker Dirk Smit, said Chaaban had recently sent cellphone text messages to ID councillor Trevor Trout that Trout regarded as "threatening". Trout has laid charges with the police.

The council has assigned guards to Trout's home, Smit said.

Smit said Chaaban had also sent an SMS to him. Asked if he regarded it as threatening, Smit replied: "I know Chaaban . I've learnt not to take him seriously."

Chaaban responded: "It's a free country . you're allowed to send an SMS."

Chaaban, 47, now a member of the African Muslim Party, was part of the coalition that allowed the DA to win the city from the ANC. But he and Zille fell out over the siting of the city's 2010 World Cup stadium in Green Point.

Zille accused Chaaban of trying to serve his own interests by getting the stadium built elsewhere and he retaliated with a civil action in which he accused her of defamation.

Chaaban acknowledges having been "an acquaintance" of Yuri Ulianitski, a Ukrainian gangster known as "Yuri the Russian". Ulianitski was shot dead in Milnerton, the suburb in which Chaaban lives in a palatial home, in May.

Chaaban said: "Because I'm a prominent businessman, he approached me for protection money.

"I said: 'Mate, where I come from, people like you ask me for protection.' I don't need protection.

"The cheek of him, coming to ask me for protection money."

Chaaban said he had met Ulianitski at casinos and coffee shops.

He said: "I've erred, I've gambled. It's against my religion and I ask God for forgiveness on a daily basis."

Chaaban said he had been working with the ANC in Cape Town for seven to eight months ahead of the floor-crossing period.

He said: "I'm quite confident that the ANC and my party will be in the majority."

He described Zille as a "megalomaniac. I get a kick out of putting people like that in their place."

Chaaban said his party would appeal to coloured voters in the Cape Flats.

"Whites and rich coloureds won't vote for me," he said, acknowledging that Zille was a master at handling the media.

"She will always look like Mother Theresa and I'll look like Osama bin Laden."