S Africa court rejects ex-Zuma aide graft appeal

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 6 (Reuters) South Africa's top appeals court today rejected an appeal of a corruption conviction by a former aide to ex-Deputy President Jacob Zuma, a move analysts say will hurt Zuma's drive for the presidency.

The Supreme Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein said Schabir Shaik was ''correctly convicted'' on all three counts against him, according to a live feed of the proceedings provided by SABC television.

''We find that a wealth of evidence to show that the friendship (between Shaik and Zuma), which we accept exists, was persistently and aggressively exploited by Mr Shaik for his own and his group's advantage,'' the court's unanimous ruling, read by Judge Craig Howie, said in reference to the first graft count.

The judges also said they found no reason to reduce Shaik's sentence of 15 years in jail.

Shaik was convicted of corruption and graft last year by a judge who said he had a ''generally corrupt'' relationship with Zuma, long seen as the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki when he finishes his second and final term in 2009.

Zuma was subsequently dismissed as deputy president by Mbeki, opening some of the deepest rifts in the ruling African National Congress since it guided South Africa from apartheid to democracy in 1994.

Zuma has denied wrongdoing and said he is the victim of a political conspiracy designed to thwart his presidential hopes.

Prosecutors charged Zuma himself with corruption, but that case was tossed out of court in September in what was seen as a humiliating setback for the state.

Prosecutors have since said they may lodge fresh charges against Zuma, and political analysts have said this would be made more likely if Shaik's appeal failed.

REUTERS DKA PM1413