Mbeki sacks deputy

South African President Thabo Mbeki has fired his deputy Jacob Zuma before a special joint session of Parliament on the matter, the Star newspaper reported last night.

It said senior Government officials had confirmed the move.

Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik was found guilty of corruption and fraud this month in a Durban High Court ruling that also implicated Zuma, saying the relationship between the pair was corrupt.

The ruling sparked calls for Zuma to resign, but he had refused to step down, on the grounds that he believed he was not guilty of any crime.