President Kgalema Motlanthe has received comments from suspended prosecutions boss Vusi Pikoli on the report about his fitness to hold office, and will release his findings in due course, the presidency said.

"We did give him an opportunity to make to make representations before he made his decision," said Motlanthe's spokesman Thabo Masebe on Friday.

"That was done... so that will be considered."

Masebe said Motlanthe would release the report soon, but it was not yet possible to say on which day.

The Mail&Guardian reported, without naming sources, that the report cleared Mbeki of interfering in the arrest and prosecution of national police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Pikoli maintained during the inquiry, on which the report is based, that he was suspended to stop a corruption investigation against Selebi.

The official reason given was a breakdown in relations between
Pikoli and former justice minister Brigitte Mabandla.
Masebe said because the report had not been made public, he could not comment on the Mail&Guardian's article.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali said of Pikoli: "He is still the suspended head."

THIRD OF COMPANIES PLAN RETRENCHMENTS: REPORT

Just over a third of South Africa's top 120 companies are likely to retrench staff in the next six months, Business Day reported on Friday.

The worst-affected sectors would be construction, mining, industrials, financial services, forestry, paper and pulp, vehicles and logistics, the newspaper said, citing a snap survey carried out this week by business advisory services firm KPMG.

The survey also found that about 65 percent of companies were likely to offer staff voluntary packages instead of forcing them out of work.

About 90 percent of companies across all sectors had steeply cut costs, but KPMG said this related not to subprime woes, but rather to local economic factors such as high interest rates, inflation and the volatile exchange rate.

Carol Read, a director and policy board member at KPMG, was quoted as saying: "At first glance this may seem to be a negative outlook to the survey results, however, on further examination as to the rationale of this feedback, we found that many businesses view this strategy as merely a short- to medium-term answer and are therefore examining what other interventions can be undertaken to correct this imbalance to ensure long-term prosperity of commerce and growth in our economy."