“The African President Who Accused His Wife of Poisoning Him”
In 2014, then-South African President Jacob Zuma accused his wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, popularly known as MaNtuli, of poisoning him. Jacob Zuma and MaNtuli had three children together.
It all started in 2014 when Jacob Zuma reportedly fell seriously ill and travelled to Russia for medical treatment. Reports later emerged that he had allegedly been poisoned.
Zuma subsequently suspected MaNtuli and accused her of being involved in a plot against him. She strongly denied the allegations.
The allegations against MaNtuli included claims that she had poisoned Zuma’s tea, communicated with a foreign intelligence operative, maintained a secret bank account in Mauritius and had an affair with her bodyguard.
In January 2015, then-State Security Minister David Mahlobo ordered MaNtuli to leave the family’s Nkandla homestead while an intelligence investigation was carried out. She was subsequently barred from returning to the compound.
The State Security Agency investigated the allegations, with intelligence reports reportedly linking MaNtuli to individuals outside South Africa. She consistently denied any involvement in a plot to harm her husband.
The case continued for several years until September 2019, when the National Prosecuting Authority decided not to prosecute MaNtuli. Investigators had found no evidence proving that Zuma had been poisoned or linking MaNtuli to an attempt to poison him.
The allegations therefore ended without MaNtuli facing prosecution, leaving the couple estranged and their marriage deeply strained.