The African National Congress’s (ANC) national working committee was still meeting by Monday afternoon after corruption charges against party leader Jacob Zuma were declared invalid because of flawed prosecutorial procedure.
Earlier, spokesperson Jessie Duarte said the party would not provide information on what was to be discussed, but it was speculated that the implications of Pietermaritzburg High Judge Chris Nicholson’s judgement on Zuma’s legal battles and the fallout on President Thabo Mbeki would top the agenda.
Nicholson agreed with Zuma’s legal team that he should have been consulted by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) before he was charged for a second time last December.
He also said Zuma’s claims that the charges were founded on a political conspiracy had some merit. He said Mbeki sacking Zuma in 2005, when his financial adviser Schabir Shaik was convicted of facilitating payments to him from a French arms company, was unfair.
Nicholson criticised former justice minister Penuell Maduna and former NPA head Bulelani Ngcuka’s close working relationship, given that the NPA was supposed to be independent. The judge said it was unlikely that Maduna was on a ”frolic of his own”.
He agreed with Zuma that the case against him appeared to be part of a strategy linked to the rivalry between himself and Mbeki for leadership of the ANC and questioned the timing of the new charges against Zuma so soon after he was elected ANC president.
Speaking outside the court on Friday, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema said: ”The NEC [national executive committee of the ANC] has got a responsibility to recall Mbeki or else we will recall him.”
Mbeki’s office has denied interfering in the prosecution process.
It is customary for the ANC not to comment during the course of an NWC meeting. A national executive committee meeting will be held on Friday.
Meanwhile, it was business as usual for Mbeki on Monday as he attended the signing of the power-sharing agreement that he helped broker in Zimbabwe. Then he is off to Sudan to meet President Omar al-Bashir and Sudanese Vice-President and President of South Sudan Salva Kiir to be briefed on peace and security issues in the country.
Zuma’s programme includes a visit to the leaders of the South African Hellenic, Italian and Portuguese communities in Johannesburg on Monday evening.
The NPA said it was still studying the judgement before commenting further on how it planned to proceed. — Sapa