South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma has denied allegations that he once hid what has been described in press reports as “Gaddafi’s millions” in his home in the Eastern Cape Province.
Zuma said this as he broke his silence to respond in a tweet about the reports alleging that he secretly moved $30 million belonging to the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi from his Nkandla compound to neighbouring eSwatini.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported that South African agents tipped President Cyril Ramaphosa about the stash being moved to eSwatini earlier this year.
Despite failing to respond to questions sent to him by the paper on the allegations, Zuma went on Twitter on Tuesday to deny the sensational claims which have gained traction in parliament, whose opposition leaders have demanded a probe into the allegations.
However, King Mswati is said to have admitted the existence of the money when he met Ramaphosa at OR Tambo International Airport two weeks ago.
The money, said to be $30 million in cash, was said to have been transported out of King Shaka Airport in Durban bound for eSwatini, where it was to be stored by the Central Bank of eSwatini, the paper reported.
The cash pile is said to have been given to Zuma by the Libyan leader for safekeeping shortly before he was killed in October 2011 by rebels of a NATO-supported insurrection.
The government, through International Relations Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, said: “When we went to eSwatini (Swaziland) recently, there were rumours that the (Gaddafi) money was in eSwatini (Swaziland). There is no money in eSwatini (Swaziland). It’s a ghost story.”
NM/as/APA