It was bizarre that African National Congress president Jacob Zuma was not charged alongside his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik, if it was true that there was prima facie evidence against him, Judge Chris Nicholson said on Friday.

"It was bizarre to say the least *1," he told the Pietermaritzburg High Court while handing down judgment in an application to have the decision to prosecute Zuma declared invalid.

He said the crimes of bribery that former prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka spoke of, were "bilateral" -- they involved another person -- and it was "most strange" not to charge Zuma as a bilateral offence cannot be done alone.

The failure to prosecute Zuma with Shaik "brought the justice system into disrepute" *2, Nicholson told the court as Zuma, dressed in a dark pin-stripe suit, listened attentively.

He said President Thabo Mbeki's decision to fire Zuma after the Shaik corruption conviction was unfair and unjust, but not illegal given his powers to appoint his cabinet and his deputies.

Nicholson said that Zuma believed his sacking was part of rivalry for the ANC presidency and was a strategy to stigmatise him as corrupt.

Nicholson noted that early into the investigation, Ngcuka said he would take representations on the case and he never withdrew this offer.

Zuma's legal team did approach the acting national director of public prosecutions to find out whether the case was under review and were told that it was an ongoing investigation.

Zuma has requested the court to declare the decision to prosecute him on fraud and corruption charges invalid, because the state did not consult him before going ahead with the prosecution.

Nicholson started delivering his judgment at 10am to a courtroom packed with the entire national executive committee of the ANC and other high-profile leaders.

The judgment was broadcast live on television and to about five thousand of supporters gathered outside the court.

More and more supporters were arriving, carrying sticks and blowing on vuvuzelas and police had to contain a crowd of about 300 trying to break through the barriers outside the court.

Zuma faces a charge each of racketeering and money laundering, two charges of corruption and 12 charges of fraud related to the multi-billion rand government arms deal.

He claims that the decision to prosecute him was a reversal of a decision taken by the former National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka.

Ngcuka announced in August 2003 that the National Prosecuting Authority would not prosecute Zuma, because it did not believe that it had a "winnable case".

But after Shaik was found guilty of corruption in 2005, the state decided to charge Zuma after all.

The charges related to a government arms deal where Zuma allegedly used his influence to get lucrative arms contracts for Shaik's Nkobi Holdings, in return for payments totalling more than R4 million.

Nkobi Holdings and Thomson-CSF Holdings owned African Defence Systems, which won arms deal contracts.

The two South African subsidiaries of French arms manufacturer Thales International (formerly known as Thomson-CFS) -- Thint Holdings (Southern Africa) Pty Ltd and Thint (Pty) Ltd -- are co-accused and each face a charge of racketeering and two counts of corruption. Their case has been postponed until December 8.

Zuma further allegedly agreed to protect Thint Holdings (Thomson-CSF Holdings) from an investigation into alleged corruption in the arms deal, in return for a R500,000 a year bribe.

So far, Zuma has been mostly unsuccessful in attempts to block the state's case.

Earlier this year, a Constitutional Court challenge by Zuma failed. He contested the lawfulness of search and seizure operations by the state.

His case has had a ripple effect on politics in South Africa. Zuma is the front-runner to be elected as president next year and the ongoing uncertainty over his legal fate has cast a shadow over his election campaign.

Ngcuka, the first man to publicly mention Zuma's alleged involvement in the corruption charges, eventually resigned from office after being accused of being an apartheid spy.

Special Investigating Unit head Judge Willem Heath, who was also investigating the arms deal, resigned after the justice minister at the time, Penuell Maduna, announced that he would disband the Heath unit.

Around the same time, Zuma told Parliament's standing committee on public accounts that there was no need to probe the arms deal.

After Ngcuka's departure, Vusi Pikoli was appointed as chief prosecutor but he has since been suspended by President Thabo Mbeki in a separate matter.

Media reports have also pulled Mbeki into allegations of bribery in the arms deal.

Since Zuma's election as ANC president at Polokwane last December, the ANC, which has repeatedly claimed that Zuma is being persecuted, has announced that it intends disbanding the Scorpions.

If convicted, Zuma faces a minimum of 15 years in jail.

With acknowledgements to Sapa.