Zuma’s Zondo testimony and how to spot a liar

Former President Jacob Zuma touted by the media in South Africa as the Zondo commission into state capture's star witness, came out guns blazing in his testimony. If anybody expected a repentant Zuma spilling the beans, they have been mistaken. What Zondo got, was Zuma talking for almost three hours, often clearing his throat, indignant that anybody could accuse him of any wrongdoing and denying that the Guptas were involved in the appointment of Cabinet ministers. He said that there was nothing wrong in his relationship with the Guptas. Zuma said the accusations against him were part of a plan to get rid of him and that there was also a plot to kill him. The former President accused one of his former Cabinet Ministers, Ngoako Ramatlhodi who told Zondo that Zuma had auctioned off the country to the Guptas, of being an apartheid spy. This prompted Ramatlhodi to challenge Zuma to a lie-detector test. Zuma's indignation appears to have convinced some of the almost 17,000 people who were following his testimony on YouTube. But is it believable and what does his speech and body language reveal? How do you spot a liar? – Linda van Tilburg

Could anything be read from the subtle clues Zuma gave during his testimony from whether he was speaking the truth? His tweet on the night before his appearance at the state capture commission showed a defiant Zuma mocking the chant used against him in Parliament, "Zuma must fall". He has been known to giggle or laugh when things got tough in Parliament.

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