Associates of ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma say they have submitted affidavits to police which state that a sniper had been hired to kill the ANC presidential hopeful.

Police have refused to comment, including whether they had received affidavits. Zuma's security has apparently been beefed up in the wake of the claims. Two teams of police crime intelligence operatives have been sent to KwaZulu-Natal.

The claims come ahead of the ANC's December conference where the party would elect its new president, a person likely to be the president of SA after the 2009 elections.

One affidavit, by Zuma ally Elias Khumalo, says the hitman, a former soldier in the SA Defence Force, had been promised R1 million to kill Zuma. The would-be assassin had also served in the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) until 2004.

The leader of one of the crime intelligence units investigating the allegations was traced to Pretoria, but he refused to comment.

Khumalo states in his affidavit that information on the plot came from the would-be assassin himself.

The sniper had been provided with a weapon and told to shoot Zuma at a function in Durban. But Zuma failed to keep the appointment.

The hitman, who now feared for his life, had since confided in Zuma's associates who submitted affidavits. He believed that someone else had been hired to complete the mission.

Zuma sources said there had been several attempts on his life, including food poisoning and contaminating his clothes with a toxic chemical.

With acknowledgement to Cape Argus.