Prove it, Mbeki tells Hofmeyr

Johannesburg - There was no evidence that he ever interfered with the work of the National Prosecuting Authority, former president Thabo Mbeki has said in court papers.

Mbeki was responding to a 50-page affidavit by Willie Hofmeyr, head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit and a deputy national director of public prosecutions, who accused the Mbeki administration of using the NPA as a tool against President Jacob Zuma.

But Mbeki hit back in an affidavit on Thursday, saying similar accusations were made against him in Zuma's corruption case in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in 2008 but that it was found to be baseless by the appeals court, Beeld newspaper reported on Friday.

Mbeki said he had carefully gone through Hofmeyr's affidavit and that he did not provide any evidence to back up his claims.

Hofmeyr's affidavit in the High Court in Pretoria was the first part of the NPA's long-awaited answer to the DA's argument that dropping the charges against Zuma six years ago, shortly before the 2009 elections, was irrational, in a move that eased his path to the presidency.