Former deputy president Jacob Zuma has pledged not to withdraw legal action he had instituted against members of the media.

Addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Tuesday, the African National Congress (ANC) deputy president said the media had no right to take the place of a judge and decide on one's guilt.

Zuma said what he had stated in this regard about the media was what he believed it had done.

A judge had looked at the facts before him and found him not guilty, but some members of the media "continue to find me guilty".

'I am not campaigning to become president' This was unfair, Zuma said.

Once a judge had pronounced on a case, the decision had to be respected and it could not be dealt with again in the media, he said.

Zuma also repeated he was not campaigning for the country's highest job, and again denied any friction between himself and President Thabo Mbeki.

"I am not campaigning to become president."

This was an interpretation mooted by certain people, he said.

Zuma said he had always been active in South African politics even before 1994, it was nothing new and he would continue to do so.

ANC members would nominate people for the leadership positions as they normally did.

"I have been doing my normal ANC work. I am not campaigning," he said.

Zuma said he had also read in the media about the supposed problems between himself and Mbeki.

The two had been friends for many years, and met at Luthuli House in Johannesburg most Mondays.

They had worked together in the past, and were doing so now.

"There are no problems between me and comrade Mbeki."  

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Independent Online.