Schabir Shaik's application to appeal against his fraud conviction was dismissed by the Constitutional Court this week. We asked his brother, Mo:

Q: The highest courts in the land have found your brother guilty. Do you believe he is? *1

A: Sixteen judges have found him guilty. I've always believed in Schabir's innocence, and I will always continue to. It's unfortunate that we've been unable to bring the truth to the consciousness of the judges. This doesn't in any way cast any aspersions on the judges' integrity. But I've long held that judges are not angels sent by God to look at the affairs of man. They're judges of man, looking at the affairs of man *2, and therefore always have the potential of fallibility.

Q: If so many judges have erred, we have a serious problem on our hands.

A: I believe Schabir to be innocent. They may believe him not to be. They are judges, so therefore their judgments stand.

Q: It must be hard for your brother to be branded "a criminal" by the new order you and your brothers fought for.

A: Well, it is hard. But the hardship is not in the accusation, it is in the suffering. Having suffered under the apartheid state, and having to bear our current suffering in the democratic state. But as it speaks to the suffering, it also speaks to the courage.

Q: Do you think Jacob Zuma has stood by your brother, after all the generosity your brother showed him?

A: Yes, I do. I think he has always maintained that Schabir is his friend and comrade. And in both those capacities, throughout the family's trials and tribulations, he has been a pillar of support.

Q: Do you still support Zuma politically?

A: Absolutely. I believe in the innocence also of ANC deputy president Zuma. I have said in the Hefer Commission that a wrong has been done to an honourable man by the then Director of Public Prosecutions.

Q: And financially?

A: We are not in a position to support anyone, other than our selves and our legal trials at the moment. But if we have to contribute to the Jacob Zuma support fund, then I will from my salary.

Q: Has the ANC stood by your family?

A: We have received a range of calls from different office-bearers at different levels within the ANC, expressing support, solidarity, just for us to have the courage to bear what we are bearing at the moment. Officially the ANC hasn't taken a position, but individuals have.

Q: Would you have liked the ANC to have done more?

A: We never expected the ANC as an organisation to do so, and it would not have been proper for it to have done so.

Q: Did you ever want the ANC leadership to step in to prevent your brother from being charged?

A: No, I don't think so. That would be interference in the NPA. That's not the type of democracy we want to build *3, and it's not the type of democracy that we sacrificed years fighting apartheid to build.

Q: Would you like the president to step in now to grant your brother a pardon?

A: A personal preference? Yes, but I think we must do that following due process.

Q: If Zuma becomes president, would you expect him to pardon your brother?

A: If he becomes president, I'm sure it's a matter he will apply his mind to at the time - if a request is made. *4

Q: Do you believe he should become the next president?

A: I think the ANC will decide, if they win the 2009 elections, who should represent them in that capacity. I have a personal preference on the matter.

Q: And that is?

A: Me!

Q: Me?

A: Me for president! No, among other candidates, Jacob Zuma makes a good candidate. He's someone who would be able to usher in the inter-generational change that needs to occur, both within the ANC and in government.

And I think his consensual-type leadership would make him a good candidate. But I emphasise that is my personal preference. The decision of the ANC is the one that I would follow.

With acknowledgement to Cape Argus.