"We're all going to die, one by one."
These were the words of former president Jacob Zuma as he spoke at Gavin Watson's funeral in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.
Zuma said he was worried about the way comrades were dying, "particularly knowing, as I do, how some intelligence organisations are operating".
"Some of the comrades who are being taken away are comrades who were very close to me in terms of the work, and understand where we come from and where we are going," said Zuma. Those that are known to be problematic [have died] in different ways. Heart attacks, I now know, can be induced. I have been poisoned myself."
Watson died when his car crashed at high speed into a bridge pillar last week within the OR Tambo International Airport precinct in Johannesburg.
The fatal accident occurred a day before he was due to testify before a Sars inquiry into his tax affairs. The inquiry resulted from information on Watson's company, Bosasa, that became public after Angelo Agrizzi’s testimony to the state capture commission.