The Thabo Mbeki Foundation said it has renewed hope following the Supreme Court of Appeals' (SCA) judgment in the spy tapes saga against President Jacob Zuma.

The SCA on Friday upheld the ruling of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that the decision to drop charges against President Jacob Zuma in 2009 was irrational.

Zuma's office labelled the decision "disappointing", but conceded the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) must now act.

The Thabo Mbeki Foundation (TMF) on Sunday said it "noted with renewed hope" that the decision would finally bring justice to the eight-year long matter.

"The TMF also notes that this judgment has set the parties involved and the country on a course that hopefully will soon bring to finality the matter which has caused the country undue and unnecessary strain for more than a decade and a half."

The foundation said that former president Mbeki, at the ANC’s 52nd National Conference in Polokwane, said, 'one of the most difficult and painful challenges [the ANC has] faced over the last five years have arisen around out of matters affecting our Deputy President.'

"Part of the difficulty we faced in this regard, which has resulted in many of our members criticising the NEC [national executive committee] for failing to provide leadership, was that here we were dealing with an unprecedented situation, and therefore had no body of experience that would help our leadership and movement to deal with this situation adequately.

"All of us hope that we will and can put these matters behind us sooner rather than later”.

'False narrative' about Mbeki

The foundation also said the ruling can put to death "a sustained narrative, devoid of truth and factual basis, that President Mbeki unduly interfered with law enforcement agencies in an effort to ensure the prosecution" of Zuma.

"As we welcome, once again, the formal vindication of our Patron, as the TMF however we derive no joy, due to immense damage this case has caused to our body politic and our country’s institutions, a phenomenon which continues unabated and will take many years to restore."

It was a shame that the country has people charged with the responsibility of dispensing justice for the sustenance of our Constitutional democracy who "finds it apposite that they can use such positions for the exact opposite ends".

"We would like to urge the NPA, therefore, to act accordingly and speedily, in the interest of justice and the country, in order to bring to finality a matter Justice Navsa correctly described, quoting TS Eliot, 'the recurrent end of the unending'."