The African National Congress Youth League on Sunday questioned why the Scorpions were still "baying for Deputy President Jacob Zuma's blood".

The league was reacting to the announcement by Scorpion's head Bulelani Ngcuka on Saturday that Zuma would not be prosecuted over South Africa's multi-billion rand arms deal, despite indications that there may be a corruption case for him to answer to.

"Whilst the Scorpions agree that they don't have a case against the Deputy President, they still insist that he is guilty and that they will continue to bid for his blood," ANCYL president Malusi Gigaba said in a statement.

He said the league was flabbergasted by yet another posture pulled by the Scorpions in its "desperate endeavour" to besmirch the image of Zuma, thus creating doubts about the credibility of the ANC leadership.

"What surprises the ANCYL is the fact that courts are the only bodies that have a right to judge whether any citizen of this country is guilty or not.

"The trial of deputy president by Scorpions by the media with editors as the bench is really an indictment of our justice system," he said.

Gigaba called on Scorpions to abandon "its new career as politicians" and do its work without interference.

"The country has a lot of syndicates that are not being investigated," he said.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and the Weekend Argus.