African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma said yesterday that former president Thabo Mbeki's Constitutional Court application should be struck off the roll.

Mbeki applied to the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal against certain aspects of Chris Nicholson's judgment setting aside the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to prosecute Zuma for corruption.

In his judgment, Nicholson inferred that Mbeki and former justice ministers Penuell Maduna and Brigitte Mabandla had interfered in the work of the NPA.

Mbeki wants to challenge this.

On Friday, Mbeki sent submissions to the Constitutional Court asking the court to postpone his case indefinitely as the NPA had obtained leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal against Nicholson's judgment. The NPA opposed Mbeki's application to the Constitutional Court as it was applying for leave to appeal against Nicholson's judgment.

But when Mbeki launched his application, the NPA had not yet lodged its application to appeal and Nicholson had not granted it. In its application the NPA included the aspects of the judgment Mbeki took issue with.

Mbeki said in his submission on Friday that he still "contends that he has no remedy in either the High Court or the Supreme Court of Appeal", but requested the postponement "for reasons of practicality and because of the change in circumstances".

But yesterday Zuma said he wanted the matter taken off the roll entirely. He said that although Mbeki originally asked for the matter to be dealt with urgently, he later asked for it to be adjourned indefinitely. He also said the circumstances had materially changed since the application was launched. In all likelihood, when the cases were to resume all the parties would have to amplify their submissions anyway.

In his submission, Zuma said: "The mere striking off of the matter (does) not preclude (Mbeki) from launching these or similar proceedings at a time he deems appropriate."

In its Lekolwane judgment, the Constitutional Court found that to reinstate a matter after it was struck off the party wanting reinstatement had to show it was in the interests of justice to do so.

With acknowledgements to Franny Rabkin and Business Day.