President Jacob Zuma has already considered 384 applications for Presidential pardon launched in 2003, the Constitutional Court heard on Thursday.

This was contained in an affidavit filed with the court on Thursday in reaction to a suit brought against Zuma by mostly members of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) over a six-year delay in dealing with the applications.

According to the affidavit, 230 of the applications were rejected, but 146 could not be finalised because of a High Court order. Although the remaining eight did not apply for pardon, their circumstances were similar to the others.

The lawsuit was originally brought against the Justice Minister, but a court found that it was the President who bore "all obligations in the greater pardons process".

The IFP, of which Mqabukeni Chonco and other applicants are members, then decided to institute legal action against Zuma.

Chonco was convicted of murder in the late 1980s and was sentenced to life in prison.

He applied in 2003 to be pardoned by the President for his crime. He claimed the murder was politically motivated.

He did not participate in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty process on the instructions of the IFP, which did not participate in the proceedings.

In the course of 2003, he was joined by the other 383 applicants seeking pardon on the same grounds.