Edward Zuma: sometimes it's hard to be a Zuma

President Jacob Zuma's eldest son, Edward, says he and his siblings are "living a normal life like any other kids" and that the Zuma name can actually be a burden at times.

"It's very difficult. There are lots of challenges. People expect you to do miracles, when you cannot. People tend to think you are the deputy head of state, when you are not.

"People have a very wrong perception that if you are Jacob Zuma's son, everything comes your way on a silver plate."

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As evidence, he cited his legal woes: he was a director of Amalgamated Tobacco, which was bust for tax evasion in 2013.

"If I was using my relationship with the president, I would have long passed these things. But I am still facing these problems, and I must still face them like any other citizen."

Edward claims he has never exploited his father's position "because the only thing he will tell you, he will rather serve the other person before he serves his own family. That's his motto, and his belief."

Asked whether his name alone gave him an edge, he said: "I cannot go into a group of people and misrepresent myself - say I am Carlos van der Merwe when I'm actually Edward Zuma. I have to say who I am. Whether these guys take it the way people would want them to take it, that's their own baby to nurse. In no way do we use this. I've never used my father as a ladder to step on to get to where I am."

He said the attacks on his family were orchestrated by big business. "Can South Africans be open to the truth that if we close our eyes, we will lose this country again to white monopoly capital? The real people that have stolen money from this country are the people that are persecuting us."