CAPE TOWN South Africa (Xinhua) -- South Africa’s Presidency has rejected a "misleading and opportunistic" statement issued by a political party urging President Jacob Zuma to answer to some charges before court.

The statement came after the Congress of the People (COPE) accused Zuma of manipulating the criminal justice system to avoid prosecution*1.

COPE said Zuma must answer all of the 700 charges he has tried to wriggle out of through abuse of power and the willing collusion*2 with the whole of the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (SACP).

COPE made the accusation following the dismissal of AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo’s application for a bail extension by the Mthatha High Court.

Citing Dalindyebo’s case, COPE said it wished to remind Zuma that nobody was above the law, and called on Zuma to stop manipulating and damaging the criminal justice system in order to avoid having his day in court.

The Presidency, however, dismissed COPE’s allegations, saying they were a "complete lie and a serious fabrication".

"Saying the president must answer to some non-existent charges before court in light of the King Dalindyebo matter is opportunistic and mischievous," said the statement.

Dalindyebo began his 12-year imprisonment Wednesday on charges of arson, assault, and kidnapping in relation to the treatment of some of his subjects.

Dalindyebo,who was found guilty in 2009, has been AbaThembu king since 1989.

The AbaThembu are one of the handful of nations and population groups which speak Xhosa in South Africa. The land in which they live is historically known as Thembuland.

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Zuma of manipulating the criminal justice system to avoid prosecution.

*1 well, a couple of things for sure

Some people manipulated the criminal justice system to facilitate Zuma avoiding prosecution.

The first was an employee of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and not only any old employee but a deputy national director, Leonard McCarthy, who so manipulated the criminal justice system.

But there were plenty others.

Another was the party who procured the wherewithal to conduct the electronic surveillance on Advocates McCarthy and Ngcuka, inter alia.

But then of course just how did Zuma's attorney and legal adviser Michael Hulley come into possession of the electronic intercepts and then use them in order to blackmail the NPA into abandoning the charges against Zuma?

*2 Putting it as "willing collusion with the whole of the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (SACP)" might be taking things a little far.

But one thing is for sure, this could not have happened without the acquiescence and/or sheer witlessness of the National Prosecuting Authority.

Other than the capture and imprisonment by the German Army of almost the entire Union Defence Force's 2 SA Infantry Division (10 722 South African soldiers*3) at Tobruk in June 1942, this was surely the saddest day ever for this country.

*3 Including my paternal grandfather James Archibald Young.