“I have a right to be as romantic as I want with my wife.”

That is what home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba said in an exclusive interview with eNCA on Monday evening after his sex tape leaked last week.

The sex tape has also been uploaded onto the world’s biggest porn site‚ PornHub.

“She’s my wife. I paid lobola. I married her in broad daylight. I have a right to be as romantic as I want. When I travel with her‚ you complain. When I’m being romantic with her‚ you hack my phone‚ you try to humiliate us‚ you still complain. What do you want us to do? To stop being husband and wife? We’re not going to do that.”

Gigaba claimed people try to hack his phone and email almost daily. He said he has reported it to the police‚ the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the State Security Agency (SSA).

“My phone is a subject of hackings almost on a daily basis. I have to keep changing my passwords on my phone and my emails… In some instances‚ I’ve got proof and names of people who are involved in doing this.”

Gigaba last week apologised for the video and said it was meant for private use between him and his wife.

However‚ there are however other ways to be romantic...

A recent web survey‚ conducted by MyEcho survey platform in partnership with Mooiste Clothing Boutique last month‚ gathered data from 1‚000 South African women over 18 years old.

While some women wanted their partners to be more adventurous‚ spend more money on them and be more romantic‚ most of those surveyed simply wanted their men to communicate more‚ spend more time with them and lend a helping hand more often.

The survey found jeans to be their favourite clothing items across all age categories‚ with women aged between 18 and 24 also mentioning jumpsuits‚ skirts and crop tops.

A spa destination topped the list for a girls’ weekend‚ while Cape Town was named as a favourite family holiday hotspot.

Not that this information will mean much to Gigaba‚ whose sex tape was but one episode in a scandal-ridden week.

The Constitutional Court last week dismissed Gigaba’s final attempt to appeal a high court judgment that found he had lied under oath in his legal battle with the Oppenheimer family. This came after the minister denied approving the operation of a terminal for Fireblade at OR Tambo International Airport.

Also last week‚ public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that Gigaba had violated the constitution and executive ethics code by lying in court.

Adding to the minister's troubles‚ Business Day reported on Monday that a draft report on state capture at Eskom‚ compiled by the parliament’s portfolio committee of public enterprises‚ names Gigaba as one of the government officials suspected of being “captured” and who should be criminally investigated.

If Gigaba was trying hard to keep his cool after the sex tape scandal‚ these subsequent developments have certainly left him feeling the heat.

“I feel an avalanche of pressure‚ all of which seems political‚” he said. “A common narrative is being built up that seeks to paint me as a person who is not fit to hold public office‚ without giving me a fair opportunity to state my case.”

Gigaba said he would not walk in the footsteps of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene‚ who resigned last month.

“It’s got nothing to do with fighting to keep my position; it’s about fighting to protect my integrity and to protect my image and to ensure that I do not become a victim of devious political campaigns‚" he said.

“I am a deployee of the ANC. I will do what the ANC asks me to do.”

- TimesLIVE