Two whistle-blowers who leaked explosive emails revealing alleged corruption by powerful elites in South Africa fled the country because they couldn’t trust the authorities to protect them.

This, and other details, have been revealed at a judicial inquiry into the corruption that flourished under former President Jacob Zuma.

In dramatic testimony, lawyer Brian Currin said he had helped the two terrified whistle-blowers, who leaked hundreds of thousands of explosive emails, to flee.

The whistle-blowers are still too scared to return, unable to trust the police, he added.

The emails were contained on a hard drive that was smuggled out of South Africa last year to be verified by independent experts.

The emails, now widely reported on by the media, appear to show a corrupt conspiracy involving Mr Zuma, his son, ministers, civil servants and the powerful Gupta family. All deny any wrongdoing.

But the inquiry, established to get to the bottom of what is known in South Africa as “state capture”, is rattling the political establishment and is widely expected to lead to arrests and criminal trials. (BBC)