The Congress of SA Trade Unions said it had hoped for a different result in ANC president Jacob Zuma's Constitutional Court case, but respected the ruling.

"Cosatu had hoped for a different result, but respects the rulings of the Constitutional Court," the trade union body said.

Zuma and arms company Thint failed a challenge to the validity of search and seizure warrants issued during the corruption investigation against them, as well as a challenge against a letter of request to Mauritian authorities for originals of documents that State intends using in their trial.

"We are on record as having in the past recorded our displeasure at the impact of the manner in which the Constitutional Court managed the complaint against the Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe," Cosatu said in a statement.

"We have also, in the past, voiced our discomfort at the comments made by the Constitutional Court Deputy President, Dikgang Moseneke, regarding his views about Jacob Zuma.

"We hope that these issues did not sway the Constitutional Court judges in any way in relation to their decision today."

Zuma and his lawyers return to the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday to have the case against them reviewed. This emanates from the fraud and corruption conviction of Zuma's financial adviser Schabir Shaik, who was found to have facilitated a payment to Zuma in exchange for protection during arms deal probes,

Cosatu's general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi recently came under fire from the SA Human Rights Commission for statements saying he would kill for Zuma and former Cosatu president Willie Madisha was ousted for not following the union's line of support for him as president of the ANC ahead of the party's elective conference last December.

Hlophe and the Constitutional Court are in dispute over a complaint the court made to the Judicial Service Commission that he had allegedly tried to influence the Zuma judgment. Moseneke, at a party earlier this year said he wanted to do what was good for society.

The ANC took umbrage to his reported statement: 'It's not what the ANC wants or what the delegates want; it is about what is good for our people," but later said it accepted no ill was intended.

The United Democratic Movement said the judgment should teach Zuma that "his delaying tactics are failing".

It suggested Zuma consult his family and announce that he would stop avoiding his day in court.

"He needs to be aware that the politicians that surround him may be abusing his cause for their own self-aggrandisement. He should thank them for what they have done until now, and then jettison them." UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said.

He said Zuma should "display leadership; by facing the music".

SA Communist Party secretary general Blade Nzimande was not surprised by the ruling.

"We expected this. The whole Hlophe matter, we have said, was actually preparing us for this," Nzimande told reporters outside the Constitutional Court, referring to Judge John Hlophe's alleged attempts to interfere in the Zuma judgment.

"[This case] will go down in history as the first political trial, post-apartheid," added Nzimande.

He was concerned about the perceptions created about judgments being handed down shortly before Zuma's application on Monday and the way the Constitutional Court behaved in the run-up to the judgments.

"Irrespective of whatever is happening, he [Zuma] is going to be the president of the Republic," said Nzimande.

ANC Youth League spokesman Zizi Kodwa said: "The struggle continues. This is not a trial court. Therefore, it is not a judgment of guilty in any way. The real task is on Monday."

The Democratic Alliance believed the ruling showed that a major obstacle to Zuma facing justice had been removed.

The party said Zuma's supporters should accept the decision and not try to block the course of justice.

"If Zuma is indeed innocent, they have nothing to be concerned about because they can have faith in the independence and impartiality of the judiciary."

The ANC said it respected the ruling but also expressed reservations about how the matter against Zuma had been handled.

"The ANC reiterates its view that the manner in which this case has been handled by the authorities over the last few years has reinforced the perception that the ANC president is being persecuted rather than merely prosecuted. It has also fuelled doubts about his chances of receiving a fair hearing."

With acknowledgements to Sapa.