Ruling dents Mbeki's repute.

Byline: KARIMA BROWN and HAJRA OMARJEE

Ruling dents Mbeki's repute Judge's remarks about political meddling raise question of whether president will be recalled, write AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma's path to the Union Buildings was cleared by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday when it threw out the state's corruption case against him. Judge Chris Nicholson nailed President Thabo Mbeki, his cabinet and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in an emphatic judgment that painted a picture of a political conspiracy with Kafkaesque overtones aimed at thwarting Zuma's presidential aspirations. Given the explicit nature of the judge's comments on his political machinations, Mbeki's fate again hangs in the balance as the ANC's allies and the ANC Youth League bay for his blood. He survived a bid earlier this year by the South African Communist Party to have …