A South African court has dismissed an application by former president Thabo Mbeki to challenge a ruling that led to his removal from the top post.A 12th September judgement by Justice Chris Nicholson had observed that Mbeki had meddled in the prosecution of corruption charges against his long-time rival Jacob Zuma, a senior leader of the ruling African national Congress.
Soon after the ruling, the ANC forced Mbeki to resign as President.
In dismissing his applications for leave to appeal, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled that it was "not in the interests of justice to hear (Mbeki's) applications at this stage," the news paper reported.
The court said it had reached this conclusion as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was appealing the whole of Nicholson's judgement in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
In his application, Mbeki said Nicholson's judgement was related directly to the decision by the ANC to recall him from office as president.
He said Nicholson's findings suggested that he "acted improperly or without integrity, all of which are injurious to my good name, reputation and my right to human dignity".
Both Zuma and the NPA opposed Mbeki's application to the Constitutional Court.
Legal experts said they believed that, based on the reasons given by the court for the dismissal, Mbeki would not be prevented from taking the case back to the court once the appeal had been heard and decided by the appeal court.
