The Public Protector says she’ll sue the minister while the US embassy says it will lodge a complaint through diplomatic channels.

Deputy Defence Minister Kebby Maph atsoe was speaking at the unveiling of a tombstone for a liberation fighter in Soweto.

He says Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s been planted by the CIA.

The aim is to undermine the ANC and the government and create a puppet regime in South Africa for the US.

He says the ANC cannot allow itself to be hijacked and Mandonsela must say who her handler is.

Since she sent a letter to President Jacob Zuma last month asking him to say when he’s going to pay back the percentage of public money spent upgrading his private home at Nkandla not related to security, Madonsela’s come under increasingly heated attack from the ANC and its allies.

She says she’ll take legal action against Maphatsoe, asking him to retract and apologise, or provide incontrovertible evidence that she’s a CIA agent.

The American Embassy spokesman John Hillmeyer says the US categorically rejects the baseless and offensive accusation from the deputy minister and will lodge a complaint through diplomatic channels.

The post Madonsela to sue over CIA slur by deputy minister appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

A statement from the US Embassy in Pretoria indicates the remarks have sparked a diplomatic incident.

Embassy spokesman John Hillmeyer says in a statement this morning that the US categorically rejects the baseless and offensive accusation from the deputy minister and will lodge a complaint through diplomatic channels.

South Africa’s relations with the US have been particularly warm following last year’s visit by President Barak Obama.

The deputy minister’s remarks and the terse response from the embassy indicate that nothing should be taken for granted in dealing with the world’s last remaining super power.

The extent of Washington’s anger and the consequences for South Africa will become clear when the diplomatic protest is made.

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