Sowetan

Bizarre plot to kill Zuma

Alleged assassin asks for R60m to help murder president and ministers Man (23) appears in court today on conspiracy charges

- By Peter Ramothwala

The alleged coup plotter planning to assassinat­e President Jacob Zuma and those close to him wrote a letter to a local billionair­e asking for R60-million in assistance to carry out his mission.

In a letter that Sowetan has seen, it reads: “It is now in our hands to request financial assistance and support for the amount of R60-million in order to finance our undercover coup plot mission to assassinat­e Jacob Zuma and his entire state capture regime in the interest of South Africa.”

The 23-year-old man from Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, was arrested on Wednesday night and will appear in the Johannesbu­rg Magistrate’s Court today.

The letter, which the Hawks found among other documents at the man’s house, further states: “All South Africans have long been protesting and struggling against Jacob Zuma’s bad governance, rampant corruption, state capture, economic meltdown, self-interest, fraud and failure to protect and uphold the constituti­on of this country.”

Zuma and his controvers­ial friends, the Gupta family, were among those on the list to be allegedly killed by the young man. Almost 19 individual­s – perceived as state-capture beneficiar­ies and anti-state capture – were targeted and Sowetan has learnt that a hit list included disgraced former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, ministers Mosebenzi Zwane and Des van Rooyen, MKMVA chairman Kebby Maphatsoe, ANCYL president Collen Maine and NPA head Shaun Abrahams.

Political analyst Levy Ndou said if the allegation­s were true then South Africans should be afraid. “This means there are people who want to kill government exec utives and collapse the country. State security should broaden its investigat­ions and see how big is the web which threatens to plunge the country into crisis,” he said.

The Hawks said in October last year they had intercepte­d communicat­ion material of possible assassinat­ions which were being planned, in which various members of cabinet, state-owned entities and prominent South Africans were listed as targets.

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said the suspect and a founder member of the Anti-State Capture Death Squad Alliance was arrested on Wednesday in Midrand, while he was busy explaining to his targeted donors how the assassinat­ions would be carried out.

Presidency spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga referred questions to the Hawks when asked for comment.

State security should broaden its investigat­ions

 ?? /THULI DLAMINI ?? President Jacob Zuma sits alone yesterday as he waits to address thousands of people at the Freedom Day event in Manguzi, KwaZulu-Natal.
/THULI DLAMINI President Jacob Zuma sits alone yesterday as he waits to address thousands of people at the Freedom Day event in Manguzi, KwaZulu-Natal.
 ?? /SANDILE NDLOVU ?? President Jacob Zuma was the chief target of a ‘death squad’ whose mission is to end state capture, according to police following the arrest of the movement’s 23-year-old founder.
/SANDILE NDLOVU President Jacob Zuma was the chief target of a ‘death squad’ whose mission is to end state capture, according to police following the arrest of the movement’s 23-year-old founder.

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