Axing President Thabo Mbeki could plunge the country into a crisis with consequences "too ghastly to contemplate", the South African Council of Churches (SACC) said on Thursday.

It also pleaded with the National Prosecuting Authority "to consider national interests and implications" in whatever action it took in the wake of last week's high court ruling on ANC president Jacob Zuma.

The SACC said in a statement that though Mbeki had been deployed to his post by the ANC, he was president of the whole country.

"In our view, the recalling or impeachment of the president will lead to the collapse of the current executive and would plunge the country into an avoidable and unnecessary crisis," it said.

"The negative political and economic repercussions of such an induced collapse are too ghastly to contemplate."

It urged members of the ANC's national executive committee, which meets at the weekend, not to lend weight to calls for the president to be removed, or for early elections.

They, and Zuma, should instead seek to provide leadership aimed at reconciling, and not further dividing, the ANC and the country.

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Sapa