Eastern Cape Premier Phumulo Masualle is embroiled in an ugly family feud involving allegations of a plot to kill him, and his wife of 22 years, Fuzi Masualle, has now gone public in an attempt to “clear” her name.
In an exclusive interview, Fuzi confided that Masualle had not lived at home since May, after claiming that his family believed his life was in danger in her presence. She said their child was only eight months old at the time.
After numerous attempts to speak with premier Masualle, his communication team indicated that he would not be commenting as this was a “domestic matter”.
“With regard to security issues, this matter doesn’t arise, police remain in the premier’s house and he continues to receive VIP protection so his safety has never been compromised,” said spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo.
The Dispatch can today reveal that the feud between Masualle and his wife began in January when she received a “strange” call on an unknown number from a female caller who accused Fuzi of hacking her phone and Facebook account.
“I was so angry because, firstly, I do not know this person, secondly, I do not know how to hack,” she said.
Fast forward to May, and premier Masualle allegedly left his Beacon Bay home after a Facebook account began sending texts to his relatives alleging Fuzi was planning to kill a woman who is a close friend of the premier.
“This person who created the account was pretending to be a friend of mine and sent a picture of this girl and her number, saying that I want her killed. I noticed it’s the number that called me in January,” Fuzi said.
She became highly concerned when she heard that her sister-in-law was claiming she would be arrested for a murder plot.
“This is when I discovered that he [the premier] had gone to his family behind my back and they discussed all the allegations sent by that Facebook account. At the time I was still in the dark until he came and asked me about these allegations,” Fuzi said.
She said this had marked the beginning of the problems in their relationship as Masualle’s family had “ganged up” and accused her of “bad things”.
“They even accused me of going to the bank and checking on Phumulo’s finances. They could have gone to the bank to check footage if I was ever there. Why would I go and check on his finances? This is when I realised this whole thing is orchestrated.”
She said that after this, she was isolated by the family and rumours that she wanted to kill the premier began circulating.
Other rumours alleged that she had worked with the premier’s detractors when the ANC in the province went to conference late last year.
“This is when his sister kept saying that her brother’s blood [won’t be in her veins] as I want to kill this man. Now they linked this bank accusation and me wanting to kill him.” A family meeting was called to curb the feud but this failed, she said.
Fuzi said she had then sought the help of private investigators who tested her phones and reported that one had indeed been hacked.
“This hacker was downloading information from my phone at midnight, to a certain computer but using a fake IP address. The hacker first hacked me on March 10 and the Facebook account was created on the 18th. The report from the investigators also showed the hacker was in close proximity to my device. This shocked me,” she said.
She said the investigators’ interim report indicated she was not linked to any of the information that had been peddled via the Facebook account or the cell numbers that were purported to be her’s and her friend’s.
“I feel victimised by someone I love. I wanted to clear my name and find out who is the mastermind behind this. Before this I never got into any fight with my husband.”..