President Jacob Zuma is fond of conspiracies. He also likes painting himself as a victim.

But this time no one is buying it.

Last week a key ally of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa went public about a conspiracy Zuma has cooked up about him.

James Motlatsi, one of the founding members of the National Union of Mineworkers who worked with the deputy president in the 1980s, demanded that either Zuma produce evidence that Ramaphosa is a CIA spy or pronounce that he is an ANC member in good standing and that there is thus no reason for Ramaphosa not to be president of the ANC.

The rumour that Zuma does not want to hand power to Ramaphosa because he is in league with Western imperialists is nothing new. In fact, this is one of the latest in a series of smears linked to "fake intelligence reports" that Zuma has used to sideline ANC opponents.

Remember, it was Zuma who told the SACP he had an intelligence report on former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his then deputy Mcebisi Jonas, which he used to fire them from cabinet. He claimed the report revealed that the two were plotting against the interests of South Africa and he cut short their investor roadshow overseas.

They were scheduled to speak to investors to convince them that though SA's economy was not performing well they had solid plans for the country's recovery

When the president was asked to produce the report, he could not. All three constitutionally mandated organisations from which the president can draw evidencedisavowed the report.

The president has been caught in another fib relating to his claims that he was poisoned by people opposed to SA being a part of Brics. He told an ANC gathering in Pongola that he had been poisoned but did a flip flop when asked about the matter in parliament by opposition parties.

In a written reply, Zuma said: "I am not aware of a conspiracy to poison me because of the decision of South Africa to join Brics or because of the radical economic transformation policy of government."

After the recent reshuffle Ramaphosa's camp went public, saying he was also going to be fired. When Ramaphosa was asked in parliament about this, he said it was up to the president to hire and fire ministers.

The ANC likes to use the supposed threat of imperialism or forces in the West to justify changes in party policies.

Zuma accused ordinary people who were demanding an end to corruption of being puppets of the West, and also said they were racist.

How ironic that it is the FBI and the British, who are now investigating the Gupta family, Zuma's friends, for money laundering while our own Hawks have done nothing about countless allegations of corruption, money laundering and state capture.

Don't be surprised if Zuma and his supporters once again claim that we are being destabilised by the West .