JOHANNESBURG: President Thabo Mbeki has come under fire for his role in South Africa's controversial arms deal - and from his own party.

But advisers to an ANC national executive committee "arms deal" task team have been far less harsh on ANC president Jacob Zuma, with some suggesting he should be given amnesty for his alleged arms deal corruption offences.

The task team, headed by party deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, was appointed to probe how the arms deal affected Zuma. It is being assisted by a team of advisers that include Judge Willem Heath and University of Venda Vice-Chancellor Muxe Nkondo.

Now, in a working document that has not been adopted by the NEC, and which is understood to have no official status within the ANC, these advisers have questioned Mbeki's "seriously compromising secret meetings" with the French arms company accused of bribing Zuma.

They also cast doubt on Mbeki's claims that he could not remember whether he had met the company, Thomson CSF (now Thales/Thint).

Thomson was awarded a R1.3-billion stake in the deal a week after Mbeki held an alleged secret meeting with its representatives.

A 17-page NEC working document, which attacks the state's corruption case against Zuma, states: "Mbeki should disclose in detail the contents of his discussions with the different roleplayers in (Thomson CSF), as well as details of the role played by Barbara Masekela, South African ambassador to France."

While Mbeki has told Parliament he "does not recall" the alleged December 17, 1998, meeting with Thomsom CSF, Masekela earlier this year publicly confirmed that she had arranged a meeting between Mbeki and the arms company.

At the time of the meeting, Mbeki, then deputy president, was chairperson of the interdepartmental committee overseeing the arms deal.

The working documents said a copy of an effusive December 18, 1998, letter addressed to Mbeki by Thomson/Thales vice-president Bernard de Bollardiere, thanking Mbeki for granting him and his colleagues an audience "must be obtained".

It further stated that the implication of the letter was that Mbeki "was in fact promoting the interests of the French company".

Mbeki's spokesperson, Mukoni Ratshitanga, yesterday said that he "did not know anything" about the working document.

ANC spokesperson Jessie Duarte could not be reached for comment.

The working document also includes a report by Nkondo in which the professor outlines how a "political solution" to the Zuma case - specifically amnesty for his alleged corruption - could be realised.

Some of his suggestions include:

• "He (Zuma) would be required to admit guilt and disclose all the facts."
• "Evidence has to be produced to prove that his alleged crime is part of crimes committed on all sides during the period of sedition.".

With acknowledgements to Karyn Maughan and Cape Times.