A gunman tracked down by police admitted he had planned to kidnap Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chairman of the government-appointed Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigating atrocities committed during the apartheid era in South Africa.

On 2 July, the gunman, identified only as "a businessman", showed a gun to an unnamed person at the commission's hearing in the city of Bloemfontein, and said he wanted to kill Archbishop Tutu.

The commission spokesman, Mdu Lembede, said the gunman told police he carried a pistol past a metal detector at the hearing, and planned to kidnap Archbishop Tutu in a bid to get the commission to hear his grievances.

The man had complained that African National Congress (ANC) supporters had forced him to flee Bloemfontein after he killed a local business rival and his son.

Police investigations are continuing.

Archbishop Tutu reacted "with shock" to the latest threat, although he remained "still very light-hearted and in good spirits", Mr Lembede said. It is the first threat against his life since the commission began its public hearings in early April.

The Truth Commission is probing human rights abuses by both proponents and opponents of the former white minority apartheid regime.