PRETORIA: The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) says claims of a plot to assassinate ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma should not be linked to the succession debate within the ANC.

The ANCYL said yesterday that reasons for the alleged assassination plots against Zuma would emerge after a thorough investigation.

It urged law enforcement agencies to treat the allegations seriously and said the threat should not be underestimated.

The Mail & Guardian reported last week that it had seen affidavits relating to the allegations and that one of these was by a former soldier.

The man said he had been approached in 2004 and had been promised R1 million to kill Zuma while the ANC deputy president was addressing a crowd in Durban.

The former soldier said he had been told the assassination would be in the interest of the country but he did not go though with the plan because Zuma had failed to arrive.

The newspaper said investigators were probing the role of a trained hitman and former South African National Defence Force member who had allegedly been hired to kill Zuma.

A close associate of Zuma claimed yesterday that Durban crime intelligence officers had arrested a man at the weekend. Several calls to the police, however, resulted in a firm "no comment".

League president Fikile Mbalula said there might have been another attempt to kill Zuma at the time of his high- profile rape trial in Johannesburg last year.

"The same allegations were made against the late comrade Chris Hani, before his assassination in 1993 and, therefore, such allegations, whenever they are made, should be treated with seriousness and the urgency they deserve."

Asked whether there was proof of the alleged plot, Mbalula said, "The only proof is when someone is dead."

With acknowledgements to Wendy Jasson da Costa and Cape Times.