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Zuma says there are plans to kill him, Ramatlhodi was a spy and lashes out at Ramaphosa

Former minister Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi
Former minister Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi
Image: Masi Losi

Former president Jacob Zuma has started to spill the beans and told the state capture commission that former public service and administration minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi was a spy.

Presenting his evidence at the state capture commission in Parktown, Zuma said there had been a coordinated plan to bring him down since the apartheid era when he was heading the intelligence of the ANC.

Zuma first took a swipe at President Cyril Ramaphosa for saying that the former president's term in office was “nine wasted years” as Ramaphosa was part of the government decisions that were made in his time.

Zuma then lashed out at Ramatlhodi for accusing him of "auctioning the country" in his evidence before the commission.

“What made comrade Ngoako to behave the way he did here, saying that I have auctioned the country. [He said] in the NEC [ANC national executive committee] I just do what I like. He is carrying out an instruction. He was recruited when he was a student in Lesotho to be a spy….I have known him for many years, what he is, but never showed it. I thought he would change,” Zuma said.

He then told the commission that there had been many attempts on his life which had failed. The most recent one was at a music concert in Durban, he said.

“Just recently there was a function in Durban where the maskandis wanted to fill the stadium. Some of those people planned to murder me inside the stadium. I know them. They planned to murder me. What saved my life is because I did not go there. This is an attempt on my life. There’s been people sent from outside the country to come and kill me but I have been patient, not saying a thing,” Zuma said.

“Perhaps it is important that before I die I tell the story. The plan to kill me in Durban was very detailed. It involved people who are suicidal bombers from outside. For me the matter is bigger than it meets the eye.”

Zuma said the plan to kill him was part of the bigger plan to totally eliminate him from  the country’s political space.

“The critical point is that the plan made years ago has been working and our enemy has recruited more than it was during the struggle…It is some of them who influence that there should be this commission, to bury Zuma.”

“I want peace, I want harmony. That is why even those who have done things to me I don’t feel bitter about them.

Zuma also made mention of a film involving  television and radio journalist Redi Tlhabi about the rape case he was acquitted on years ago. This, he said, was the evidence that there has been a plot to bring him down which involved his own comrades and people from outside.

Former president Jacob Zuma, who has been central to allegations of state capture, will address the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture when he appears on July 15 2019, and could name those he accuses of using the platform to discredit him.

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