The sensation around The President's Keepers had led to more information surfacing about alleged payments to President Jacob Zuma and corruption in the State Security Agency, the book's author Jacques Pauw said.
Over the past few days, Pauw said, he had been "approached with more evidence about fraud and corruption in SSA". It appeared that what he published about a top-secret intelligence operation being used to siphon up to R1-billion of state funds was "just the tip of the iceberg", he said.
Pauw alleged in the book that Zuma had received a R1-million-a-month "salary" from Royal Security, owned by Durban businessman Roy Moodley, up to four months into his presidency. He said there were now indications of possible further payments to Zuma.
Zuma has denied receiving payments outside his presidential salary.
The SSA has attempted to stop the publishing and distribution of the book, and is trying to have Pauw charged with contravention of the Intelligence Services Act.
Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said a docket had been opened and was being investigated by the serious organised crime unit. "The affidavit received as a complaint speaks to the infringement of the intelligence act, that nobody is allowed to distribute classified information. We are investigating the possibility of information being leaked and if people can be charged."
Mulaudzi said no complaint had yet been received from the South African Revenue Service, which claims Pauw broke the law by revealing confidential taxpayer information.
Pauw met his legal team on Friday to prepare for possible arrest. He said there was concern that police might use jackboot tactics against him, as had been the case with former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen, who was handcuffed and driven around by the tactical response unit.
Pauw said there was also a possibility that his property at Riebeek-Kasteel might be raided to search for confidential documents. "They are welcome to come and search. They will not find anything here."
All the lies and speculation and imaginations of people have become the politics of today. Jirre‚ no offence but it’s just people who sit down and compose things. Unfortunately we have a problem.
— President Jacob Zuma shared his thoughts about Jacques Pauw’s book in parliament this week
He has received death threats and learnt that two of the people he was in contact with in the course of writing the book have also been threatened.
Pauw said he had heard that former SSA advocate Paul Engelke, whom he travelled to meet in Moscow, had been accused of being a "Russian double agent", and that a warrant of arrest had been issued for Engelke.
Pauw said he had cut all communications to his sources to protect them. He was trying not to be paranoid about being under surveillance but did not exclude the possibility that his phone and electronic communications were being monitored.
Pauw said he felt "enormous disappointment" with the damning information he discovered about corruption in the ANC government. He was responsible for revealing the apartheid state's killing machinery, and cooperated with the ANC in exile and Zuma directly. "I never imagined that the democratic government could criminally charge me for revealing fraud and corruption in the state. The sheer disappointment is enormous."
He said there had been silence from his contacts in the ANC about the revelations, apart from one message that said: "We are all reading it."
Pauw said that despite the damning evidence in the public domain against the president, including what he revealed in his book, he did not believe Zuma would be charged.
"The courts might eventually force [NPA boss] Shaun Abrahams's hand, but the quality of prosecution is a problem. Zuma has destroyed the law enforcement agencies to protect himself, his cronies and family ... The situation is rather dire."
