South African President Thabo Mbeki has received death threats as his re-election campaign reaches a peak, a spokesman said on Friday.
"Last week we received no more than two telephone threats in our office," Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo said. "Those people said basically they were going to kill him."
South Africans were shocked earlier this week when a former soldier wanted for stealing guns confronted guards outside the empty Cape Town home of Mbeki's predecessor, Nelson Mandela.
The man was shot dead and police say they plan to charge three suspected accomplices with attempted murder, although security ministers said it was an isolated incident.
Khumalo said the telephone threats to Mbeki should not be cause for undue concern as the country was in the middle of campaigning ahead of general elections on April 14.
"The matter is being dealt with by the security forces and I don't think the country should panic. They will take any threat against the president seriously ... (but) there is no cause for alarm," Khumalo said.
Polls indicate Mbeki's ruling African National Congress (ANC) will score a third landmark victory in April 14 elections marking a decade since Mandela swept to power at the head of the party in the first free vote that ended apartheid white rule.
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