Staff Reporters

Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin is understood to be actively lobbying the executive to join President Thabo Mbeki's court Constitutional Court challenge to the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling that suggested he had interfered in the prosecution of ANC leader Jacob Zuma.

The Cape Argus has reliably learnt that Erwin, a staunch supporter of Mbeki, has campaigned among his Cabinet colleagues that they rally around the sacked president and join his application against Judge Chris Nicholson's finding that there was "political meddling" in Zuma's criminal prosecution.

But Erwin's spokeswoman, Vimla Maistry, was non-committal about the claim that her boss was lobbying the Cabinet.

"We can't confirm anything. The president is effectively resigning on Thursday. Any statement the minister would like to make will be through the Presidency," said Maistry.

Currently there is only confirmation that Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla and Mbeki's Director-General Frank Chikane have given their affidavits in support of the outgoing president's application.

ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte said they saw no problem in Mbeki's challenge in the highest court in the land. "Every South African citizen who has a grievance has a right to approach the Constitutional Court. There is no problem in this," asked Duarte.

A senior ANC Youth League leader warned: "While the ANCYL respects Mbeki's right to legal recourse, he will be making a fundamental mistake if his intention is to ensure that Jacob Zuma is recharged."

Cosatu secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi shared Duarte's view that Mbeki was entitled to exercise his right to seek redress in court.

"All citizens have a right to clear their name in court if they feel they have been prejudiced. We are not going to hang ourselves about this. The country has to move on," said Vavi.

Mbeki claims that Judge Nicholson's multiple and "vexatious, scandalous and prejudicial" findings against him had effectively cost him his job and damaged his good name and reputation, without the judge, or "most importantly, the general public", ever hearing his side of the story. *1

This, Mbeki says, is a clear violation of his constitutional rights and those of Mabandla and former justice minister Penuell Ma-duna, who Judge Nicholson suggested had improperly interfered with the National Prosecuting Authority's work.

Mbeki, who has gone to the Constitutional Court in both his personal and official capacity, has asked that Judge Nicholson's findings be declared unconstitutional and set aside.

Pointing out that Zuma's application before the Pietermaritzburg High Court was mainly concerned with the NPA's failure to seek his representations before recharging him, Mbeki said it was "not necessary" for the judge "to make the findings I am appealing against".

Legal expert advocate Paul Hoffman, of the Centre for Constitutional Rights in Cape Town, said Mbeki may be procedurally wrong on a number of counts for ap-proaching the Constitutional Court.

"He could have approached the court at any stage to say that his integrity, the propriety of his action as head of state and the constitutionality of his and the Cabinet's relations with the NPA were under discussion, that he was concerned that an adverse finding could be made - and he therefore wanted to have his own representation in this," he said.

He said that instead of ap-proaching the Constitutional Court, Mbeki could, instead, petition Judge Nicholson on why he should be allowed to make his own submission on why the judgment should be overturned on appeal. - Additional reporting by Murray Williams.

With acknowledgements to Siyabonga Mkhwanazi, Karyn Maughan and Cape Argus.