The brother of Jacob Zuma says the former president feels betrayed and abandoned by the ANC.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Zuma's brother Khanya Zuma said that the party had "deserted him".

"When my brother is called a thief, the current ANC leadership will never be heard defending him, he is like a stranger to them now," Khanya Zuma told the publication.

Speaking from Zuma's Nkandla homestead, Kanya said it was only ordinary ANC members and South Africans that appreciated the former president.

He touched on Zuma's health saying he noticed that the former president didn't look well when they attended a family funeral in October.

"It is only when he was admitted in hospital and even went overseas that we started worrying," he said.

Fit and healthy

eNCA reported on Friday that Zuma told those gathered at his annual Christmas party in Nkandla that he was "fit and healthy".

"I heard some people saying he (Zuma) was spotted at the chess tournament but he is so weak that he couldn't even play. Why didn't you ask me how I feel? Why write something without asking me? What's wrong? Because I have all my strength. I'm perfectly fine," Zuma told the Nkandla villagers.

The broadcaster reported that in stark contrast to previous years when several political and business heavyweights were spotted at the event, only former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo showed up this year.

Weekly newspaper Sunday World previously reported that Zuma was in Cuba seeking treatment for an illness linked to an alleged poison plot in 2014. He also, apparently, was struggling with memory loss.

On December 9, Zuma's lawyers told the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture that he would not meet his deadline to respond to an application by journalist and broadcaster Redi Tlhabi for leave to cross-examine him, because he had been hospitalised, TimesLive reported.

During his testimony in July, Zuma claimed that Tlhabi was working on a film about his rape trial.

In 2007, Zuma was acquitted on a charge of rape which had been laid by Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, known by the name of "Khwezi", News24 reported.

Legal and financial woes

Zuma is facing mounting legal and financial woes.

In November, three KwaZulu-Natal high court judges found that there was no compelling reason Zuma should be granted leave to appeal the dismissal of his bid for a permanent stay of prosecution, News24 reported.

Zuma is charged, along with French arms company Thales, on one count of racketeering, 12 of fraud, four of corruption and one of money laundering.

The former president also filed a notice of intent last month to fight a summons filed by VBS Mutual Bank for him to pay back R7.3m he owes for his Nkandla home, or risk losing the property, Business Day reported.

In an exclusive, News24 previously reported that according to court papers filed by the bank's liquidator, Anoosh Rooplal, Zuma had defaulted on the multimillion-rand loan he obtained in 2016.

The former president secured the bond from VBS to pay R7.8m to the South African Reserve Bank in September 2016. He fell behind on the repayments for the first time in August 2018, when he was in arrears of R109 568.

The bank's liquidator is asking the courts to grant an order forcing Zuma to either pay or risk losing the property.

Nkandla upgrades

Upgrades at the Nkandla homestead included a swimming pool, cattle kraal and amphitheatre, cost South African taxpayers R250m.

In a report released in March 2014, former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Zuma unduly benefited from the upgrades, which were supposed to be for security. The report found that the upgrades were not related to security.

She recommended that the former president pay back a portion of the money used for the renovations to the homestead.