President Thabo Mbeki was on Friday accused of double standards after he said he would not interfere with any prosecution for corruption of Jacob Zuma, who defeated the president in the race for the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) this week.

Zuma's supporters said the president's seemingly high-minded approach was a double standard because he had stalled other investigations and prosecutions of his allies.

On Thursday, acting national director of public prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe said his office was preparing to charge Zuma with accepting bribes from a French arms company and for tax evasion. Last week, it submitted an affidavit to the Constitutional Court alleging that Zuma took illegal payments totalling R4-million over 10 years.

"All of us in the ANC have insisted, and that includes Jacob Zuma, that the law must take its course," said Mbeki. "The entirety of the ANC would accept that to the extent that the law-enforcement authorities, the National Prosecuting Authority, have a case against anybody they should proceed in that regard. I don't know what the National Prosecuting Authority intend to do; they haven't said anything to me."

Thabo Mbeki

He said this was still the case at and after this week's ANC conference. "[Because] people compete for positions, it does not turn them into enemies," he said.

Mbeki suspended Vusi Pikoli, National Director of Public Prosecutions, after he charged one of the president's political allies, police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, over alleged links with organised crime, corruption and for perverting the course of justice. Charges against Selebi were dropped and Mpshe has yet to say whether they will be reinstated.

Asked whether Zuma should resign if he is charged, Mbeki said: "It's difficult but it's important to make the point that everybody's innocent until they are proven guilty. The fact that an allegation is made should not be presumed to be correct. I'm saying it's difficult to relay that message, but we have to insist on this."

If Zuma is charged, it is likely to prove a major obstacle to his ambitions to become South Africa's next president at the 2009 general election.

He said the relationship between the government and the ANC would carry on as usual. "[Zuma] said nothing would happen as indeed nothing would happen as a ... consequence of the elections."

Mbeki said the only difference between Zuma and himself was their leadership style and that was what swayed delegates' votes at the conference. "He is a man of the people. People are entitled to make that sort of distinction."

Zuma's sweep of the national executive amounts to a further repudiation of Mbeki's policies and style with a shift to the left. --

Sapa, Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007

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