Former president Thabo Mbeki has again denied allegations that he interfered in the case of African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma during his term as president. This follows revelations that Mbeki’s telephone might have been tapped by state intelligence agencies, with the recordings being passed on to Zuma’s legal team.

Mbeki’s spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, yesterday described the allegation that Mbeki had interfered in the Zuma matter as “a lie”. Mbeki had “over the years disputed these claims and wishes to emphasise that at no stage did he interfere, or contemplate interfering, in Zuma’s case”.

“Former president Mbeki wishes to invite anyone who has such evidence to hand it over to the law enforcement agencies so that legal remedies are sought by any party that believes that it may have been unduly compromised,” Ratshitanga said.

The denial comes after news that the Zuma legal team had telephone recordings of Mbeki, businessmen Saki Macozoma and Mzi Khumalo, and former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Bulelani Ngcuka.

Ngcuka has said it was a matter of grave concern that “you could have surveillance by a state agency and the product of that surveillance being made available to the lawyers of an accused person in a criminal trial”.

On the face of it, the interception, monitoring and possession of such material by private individuals was illegal, Ngcuka said.

It is not yet clear what the content of the recordings is. Neither is it clear who was speaking. But according to people familiar with the matter, the recordings include conversations with the former head of the Scorpions, Leonard McCarthy, about the Zuma case. It has also been suggested that the taped conversations took place just before and after the ANC’s Polokwane conference.

It appears that the conversations have been presented to the NPA by Zuma’s legal team in an effort to demonstrate that there was political interference in his prosecution, and that the charges should therefore be dropped.

Ratshitanga said Mbeki would not have been aware of whether his phone was tapped, and consequently could not confirm or deny whether the taped conversations took place between him and McCarthy. Neither would he be drawn on whether it was possible for state intelligence agencies to tap the phone of a sitting president, or why they would do it.

Other people whose phone calls were tapped are considering legal action, but Ratshitanga said he was not aware if Mbeki had such intentions.

Zuma’s lawyer, Michael Hulley, said yesterday that Zuma’s representations to the NPA were made in confidence and that he intended to respect that confidence. When asked if his response might suggest that because he had not denied the allegations, they might be construed as true, he said he could not prevent such an interpretation, “however unfair I might consider it to be”.

With acknowledgements to Tim Cohen and Business Day.