Spy probe causes ANC split

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) -- South Africa launched an official hearing Wednesday investigating charges of spying and abuse of power by top figures in the ruling African National Congress. Just months before general elections, allegations are swirling around close colleagues of President Thabo Mbeki.

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They sprang from a probe over reports that Deputy President Jacob Zuma asked a French arms company for a bribe as part of a multibillion-dollar arms deal, which triggered one of the most damaging scandals since the ANC swept to power in post-apartheid elections in 1994. "It's tearing the party asunder,'' said Xolela Mangcu, political analyst and director of the Steve Biko Foundation. He said the arms deal, dogged by corruption claims, had heightened a power struggle in the ANC.

The party, which under Nelson Mandela led the fight against white rule, is expected to retain power easily. But its credibility has suffered from the string of corruption cases. The inquiry touches on a range of thorny and emotive issues from press freedom to collaboration with the apartheid regime. It focuses on claims that Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka spied for the apartheid government in the 1980s -- claims that surfaced as Ngcuka's FBI-style Scorpions unit investigated the corruption allegations against Zuma.

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More:http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/10/15/spy.probe.reut/index.html