In a wide ranging interview on Eusebius on TimesLIVE, former finance minister Trevor Manuel made some explosive further claims in relation to the legal action he has initiated against broadcaster JJ Tabane.

Manuel claims that well-known radio personality DJ Sbu, who had hosted Tabane on his podcast platform, had taken down the episode in which Tabane had claimed that Manuel had been part of conversations about setting up the nascent opposition party, Cope. Manuel also claimed that DJ Sbu had apologised to him.

When pressed by McKaiser on why he wants to pursue legal action when his record speaks for itself, Manuel insisted that he is motivated by an affirmation of the truth, and opined that Tabane's apparent lack of evidence for his assertions is akin to Trump-style misinformation campaigns.

McKaiser also pressed Manuel on whether Cope was a bad idea at the time of its conception, and he conceded that it was not a bad idea before explaining why the project, in his view, had failed.

Manuel ended off by saying that he is not afraid of being litigious, citing his battles with EFF as an example. He branded the EFF leaders as racist, comparing them to Stellenbosch student Theuns du Toit (who had urinated on a black student's belongings).