S.Africa's anti-graft panel says offices burgled, fired on

A South African judicial panel probing mass plunder of state coffers under the Jacob Zuma presidency had its offices burgled and fired on over the last two weekends, it said Monday.

After marathon hearings since August 2018, the commission is expected to release its findings later this year, with some people facing possible prosecution.

The commission said a computer was stolen during a break-in on Sunday, and that a bullet was fired through a library window the previous weekend.

The stolen computer contained "confidential and often very sensitive data and information", it said.

"If anybody is trying to intimidate the commission into not doing its job properly, they must know the commission will not be intimidated," the panel's chairman Raymond Zondo said on Monday.

The commission said it has backups of all its data and information, adding however that it will scale up its cybersecurity.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is to testify in the case as head of the ruling African National Congress party in hearings set to kick off on April 28.

Some witnesses and whistleblowers have reported receiving death threats after giving testimony.

Zuma, who came to power in 2009, was forced to resign in 2018 over graft scandals involving an Indian business family, the Guptas, who won lucrative contracts with state companies and were allegedly even able to choose cabinet ministers.

At least 34 witnesses have directly or indirectly implicated Zuma, who has denied any wrongdoing.