ANC Meets to Decide Mbeki's Future

President Thabo Mbeki's political future hung in the balance today as South Africa's ruling party debated whether to force him from office.

Claims from a leading former judge that Mbeki should be put on trial for allegedly misusing his power to try to imprison the man likely to succeed him, Jacob Zuma, added to the uncertainty.

The African National Congress national executive began a three-day meeting at which Mbeki's future will be decided after a high court judge accused the president and senior justice officials of an illegal conspiracy to charge Zuma for political ends.

Before the meeting, Mbeki launched a robust defence of his actions saying in a statement that the "insults hurled" at him are not based on facts.

The president said that "for the record" he denied any involvement in the decision to prosecute Zuma and that "no evidence has been provided by those making the claim".

But Mbeki was delivered another blow before the meeting began when one of the country's most respected former judges, Willem Heath, called for the president, his former justice minister, Penuell Maduna, and the former chief prosecutor, Bulelani Ngcuka, to be charged with crimes for pursuing a political prosecution.

Heath told a Johannesburg newspaper, the Mail and Guardian, that South Africans need protecting from the "systematic abuse, detailed in the judgment, of organs of state by the president and his purported henchmen".

"If the behavior found by Nicholson is not addressed, the application of the principle of the separation of powers will remain at the whim of those who have seemingly been using it most effectively for personal gain," said Heath.

"The findings of Judge Chris Nicholson ? will profoundly impact on South Africa. It is probably the most important judgment delivered in this country in the past many years."

Some senior party officials said they would not support ousting Mbeki because of the damage it would do to the party. But some ANC factions, including the party's youth league, communists and trade unionists have lobbied hard to oust Mbeki.

The South African council of churches today warned that removing Mbeki could plunge the country in to a crisis.

"In our view, the recalling or impeachment of the president will lead to the collapse of the current executive and would plunge the country into an avoidable and unnecessary crisis. The negative political and economic repercussions of such an induced collapse are too ghastly to contemplate," it said.