NATIONAL NEWS - Newly sworn-in Deputy President David Mabuza on Tuesday dismissed allegations that he was involved in corruption and other criminal dealings as the former premier of Mpumalanga, saying it was all part of a smear campaign.

Speaking to reporters in parliament after he was sworn in as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second-in-command following the Cabinet reshuffle on Monday night, Mabuza claimed the smear campaign against him started back in 2009 when he was appointed as premier by former president Jacob Zuma, News24 reported.

Mabuza, also known as ‘the cat’ due to his shrewdness and the many political battles he has survived, has been accused of being corrupt and getting rid of his political rivals.

“An allegation of corruption, of crime, of anything, we’re a constitutional democracy, we have got these institutions to report to the relevant people. But if you choose not to report it, but talk about it, that means your intention is not a good intention.

“So you can read between the lines that probably those people that are talking about those allegations they realise a certain potential in me,” Mabuza was quoted as saying.

He encouraged anyone who has seen him or any other citizen commit a crime to report it to the country’s law enforcement authorities. Mabuza claimed no one had stepped forward to lay a criminal charge against him.

Read more on the Caxton publication, The Citizen.