JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Supreme Court of Appeal delivered a scathing judgment against Judge Chris Nicholson on Monday, describing his finding of political meddling in the Jacob Zuma graft case as "erroneous", "unwarranted" and "incomprehensible".
"Political meddling was not an issue that had to be determined. Nevertheless a substantial part of his judgment dealt with this question. He changed the rules of the game, he took his eyes off the ball," said acting Deputy Judge President Louis Harms, while handing down judgment in Bloemfontein, South Africa's judicial capital.
Harms said Nicholson's finding that he could not exclude the possibility of political meddling in the decision to re-charge Zuma was "incomprehensible", that he erred in his judgment and that his findings were "unwarranted".
He said Nicholson had overstepped the limits of his duty as a judge.
His findings ultimately led to the axing of President Thabo Mbeki.
Harms started delivering his judgment at 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Monday in the appeal lodged by the National Director of Public Prosecutions against the Nicholson ruling on Sep. 12 last year.
The Bloemfontein court must rule on mainly two aspects in the appeal.
The first is whether Zuma was entitled to make representations before the NDPP decided to re-charge him with corruption and fraud in December 2007, ten days after Zuma beat Mbeki in the ANC leadership race.
The second is whether Nicholson was correct in implying in his September 2008 judgment there was political meddling by Mbeki in the decision to charge Zuma.
The top leadership of the ANC used the judgment to recall Mbekias president, exposing Zuma-Mbeki factionalism in the ruling party which ultimately led to the birth of a breakaway party.