South African President Thabo Mbeki Tuesday released his corruption-tainted deputy Jacob Zuma of his duties.

Mbeki made the announcement during a special joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament in Cape Town on Tuesday afternoon.

The president axed the man he appointed as his second-in-command in 1999 and again in 2004.

This came almost two weeks after Zuma was implicated in corruption during the Durban High Court trial of businessman Schabir Shaik, who acted as his financial advisor.

Last week Judge Hilary Squires sentenced Durban businessman Schabir Shaik, who acted as financial adviser to Zuma, to 15 years in prison for fraud and corruption.

Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in jail on Wednesday last week after being convicted of fraud and theft involving improper financial dealings with the deputy president.

Judge Hilary Squires ruled that the men had a "generally corrupt" relationship, and found Shaik guilty of soliciting a 500,000 rand-a-year bribe for Zuma from French arms company Thomson-CSF in return for protection from a probe into South Africa's multi-billion rand arms deal.

Mbeki's decision to fire Zuma followed a meeting of the African National Congress' extended national working committee at its headquarters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Monday. This had followed Mbeki's consultations with senior party leaders, including those in the provinces.

Zuma declined to resign last week, forcing the president to fire him. In terms of the constitution, the president has the prerogative to dismiss members of the cabinet. It is not the first time that a democratic president has moved against members of his executive, but Zuma is certainly the most senior member of government to go.

In 1995, then president Nelson Mandela fired his estranged wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, as deputy arts and culture minister, and a year later, Bantu Holomisa lost his job as deputy environment minister in a "cabinet reshuffle."

It was followed by an ANC disciplinary process where Holomisa was accused of bringing the ANC into disrepute after alleging that a cabinet colleague, Stella Sigcau, was guilty of corruption while she was a homeland leader.

It is expected that Zuma will be replaced by ANC national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota, although Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has also been mentioned. Zuma's axing may also involve a cabinet shuffle.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2005)