Cape Town — The African National Congress (ANC) has rejected allegations that its secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe is being probed by the police for assisting in writing hoax e-mails aimed at discrediting his alleged political opponents.

Motlanthe became the latest ANC leader to become embroiled in the vicious succession battles splitting the ruling party, having to fend off allegations on the weekend that he was party to a disinformation campaign against top ANC leaders.

The Sunday Times reported yesterday that the police and the inspector-general for intelligence, Zolile Ngcakani, were investigating the possibility that Motlanthe was involved in producing e-mails intended to discredit ANC leaders.

A senior information technology executive, with whom Motlanthe reportedly has business links, is said to have been arrested this week — apparently on charges of impersonation and subversion — after police raided his home and seized computer equipment. The police were acting in collaboration with Ngcakani, who is investigating the source of the e-mails.

ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said neither the party nor Motlanthe knew anything of any police probe.

He said the party stood by Motlanthe and rejected the allegations “up and until there is proper communication with the secretary general” by the police. “He knows nothing of this,” Ngonyama said, expressing concern about the persistent leaks to the media.

Commenting on the allegations yesterday, Motlanthe said he had “absolutely nothing to say”, and said it was a police matter.

He also would not be drawn on whether the allegations against him would be discussed by the ANC leadership at its national working committee today, saying only that the party’s agenda was an “internal matter”.

An old-style politician, Motlanthe has been a pillar of unity and strength for the ANC as it lurched from one crisis to another over the leadership battle between President Thabo Mbeki and his former deputy Jacob Zuma.

His becoming embroiled in the factional infighting was yet another indication that the centre in the party had not been able to hold it together, said political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi.

Matshiqi said Motlanthe could be seen as a dangerous figure to sectional interests in the party — and therefore someone to destroy because he had remained untainted and seemed a more credible presidential candidate than Zuma.

Motlanthe has been cited as a presidential candidate and a fall-back choice for Zuma supporters in the event of Zuma dropping out of the race altogether.

He said Motlanthe had a history of rising above sectional interests and acting as a unifying force and could become a casualty of the power struggle due to having played this role.

The hoax e-mails were a fabricated correspondence between Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, businessman Saki Macozoma and others and concerned a “plot” to destroy the political careers of Motlanthe and Zuma.

The Sunday Times reported that police wanted to question Motlanthe about the origin of the emails and their suspicion that they were fabricated to discredit the supposed authors.

Suspended National Intelligence Agency head Billy Masetlha was also reportedly implicated in the plot.

The police reportedly found 73 pages of the originals of the e-mails on computer hard drives as well as communications between the IT executive, Motlanthe and Masetlha.

With acknowledgements to Linda Ensor and the Business Day.