By Vincent Odundo
Revelations come as Zuma appears before a commission probing allegations of corruption during his tenure as the South Africa’s president from 2009 until 2018.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma has decried death threats on him, his children and his lawyers.
“You must tell Zuma that we are going to kill him, we will also kill his children as well as some people around him,” Zuma quoted his Personal Assistant from the ANC telling him on Tuesday morning while he appeared before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture for the second day.
The State Capture inquiry is investigating allegations that Zuma allowed three Gupta brothers to loot state resources and influence senior government appointments. Several former government officials have told the inquiry that the Guptas were made aware of information about senior government appointments.
Day 1 of the inquiry saw Zuma deny that he had done anything unlawful with the Guptas (his friends) or that he had discussed anything with them that he should not have.
The Gupta brothers who have since left the country after the ouster of Zuma denied the allegations at the time.
Zuma told the inquiry on Monday that he had is the victim of a plot to ruin his career, ruin his reputation and kill him and that he could trace that conspiracy to foreign intelligence services and the apartheid government from 1990s.
On Monday, Zuma dropped names from ex-minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi to Journalist Redi Tlhabi, saying many are gunning for him.
The former president of South Africa even suggested that he survived many attempts to have him killed; saying he has not spoken about these events in the past, but had now been provoked to the last degree.
The commission’s chairperson, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, has said the threats on Zuma, his children and lawyers were unacceptable.
Zuma was forced to resign from office in 2018 by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party after being implicated in numerous corruption scandals. In one instance, prosecutors accused him of using some USD 20 million in public funds for developments at his private estate.