Friends of Zuma ‘paid homeless man to say he was supposed to shoot ANC leader’

THE much-talked about “assassination plot” against ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma was a poorly-thought-through hoax centred on a vagrant who was paid R2 000 by a witness at Zuma’s rape trial, the Reverend Pete Mbambo, to make the claim.

City Press reported on Sunday that the alleged “sniper” was never in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). He does not know how to use a rifle and was just happy to receive the much-needed cash in return for a signature on an affidavit about an assassination plot he knew nothing about.

City Press has established that a group of six people — including Mbambo, two lawyers and former policemen who worked in the KwaZulu Homeland Police and also took part in South Africa’s border battles in Namibia — formed the core team behind the assassination hoax.

The vagrant was arrested last Friday and has reportedly confessed to crime intelligence police in a detailed affidavit. Police spokeswoman Superintendent Sally de Beer has refused to comment.

However, it appears that Mbambo, the man who assembled the list of witnesses who testified on the character of the woman who alleged Zuma raped her, is the mastermind behind the hoax.

Emotions were raised and security alerts issued after reports that Zuma could be assassinated ahead of the ANC’s December congress. Political commentators and Zuma supporters immediately urged police to get to the root of the matter.

Now it appears there was no threat on Zuma’s life, just what sources describe as an “amateurish” plan.

Mbambo allegedly co-operated with a lawyer identified only as Dlamini. He apparently worked on the divorce papers of Muzi Kunene — a key figure in the hoax e-mail saga that saw National Intelligence Agency boss Billy Masetlha lose his job.

Sources with access to investigators say a man identified as Clive van der Merwe was allegedly approached by Mbambo to act as a “sniper”. But when Mbambo discovered Van der Merwe had a fixed address and worked as a car guard, he asked him to find a person who would be hard to trace.

Beachfront vagrant

Van der Merwe then linked Mbambo with Ben Wyland Coetzee, a Durban beachfront vagrant.

Mbambo called Elias Khumalo, an ex-policeman in the former KwaZulu Homeland. Mbambo, Khumalo and another person identified as Barnabas Xulu then allegedly took Coetzee on a drive in a white Toyota Camry. They asked him if he knew anything about the SANDF. He said he knew of Battalion 32 and that his brother worked in the military. A statement was prepared and Coetzee, who initially asked for just R5 for food, was told he would get R5 000 for his signature.

He asked to read the statement but the men allegedly said they were in a hurry. Coetzee signed the statement. He was given R1 500 and driven back to where Van der Merwe was waiting. The latter was rewarded with R800 for finding Coetzee. Van der Merwe then allegedly asked Coetzee: “Did you help my friends?” When Coetzee nodded, he was given another R500.

“For a poor guy who wanted just R5 or R10 for food, you can imagine how he felt,” said the source.

City Press said its sources say that two days later, a white man put a firearm to Coetzee’s head and said: “If you open your mouth about this matter, you are dead”.

After acquiring the fraudulent affidavit and writing a wrong ID number for Coetzee, Mbambo allegedly approached a lawyer called Sibiya, who belatedly acted as a commissioner of oaths on Coetzee’s affidavit — without even seeing Coetzee.

The affidavit was delivered to Zuma in September last year. He delivered it to police two months later and crime intelligence personnel were dispatched to deal with the matter. Van der Merwe and Khumalo then led police to Dlamini, the lawyer.

Khumalo allegedly spoke to the Mail & Guardian and ANC Youth League president Fikile Mbalula. The latter then made public comments about the danger to Zuma’s life.

But sources say that when police questioned him, he said he knew only what he had read in the press and what he was told by Khumalo.

Flown to Durban

City Press has learnt that Mbambo was flown by police helicopter from Alexandra to Durban — where he was positively identified by Coetzee and Van der Merwe.

Contacted for comment, Mbambo denied he was flown to Durban or questioned by police. He acknowledged that he knows Khumalo, but said he was not involved in any plot.

Barnabas Xulu is a Durban lawyer and a trustee of the Friends of JZ Trust.

Asked to comment, he said he would only do so if given the name and rank of any police officer who said he had been to see him about the matter.

With acknowledgement to The Witness.