A top Durban lawyer is riding to the rescue of embattled Deputy President Jacob Zuma, accused of soliciting a R500 000 bribe from a company involved in the multi-billion rand arms deal.

Advocate Kessie Naidu, SC, one of the city's most sought after criminal lawyers, has emerged as a key player as Zuma fights for his political life.

The Daily News can reveal that he is the man who is drafting Zuma's responses to a set of questions given to him by the elite Scorpions unit on his financial history.

Ngcuka has come under mounting pressure from ANC heavyweights.

Naidu confirmed on Monday night he had been asked by Zuma to reply to the 35 questions.

"I have been instructed by the deputy president in relation to the list of questions which have been given to him."

Asked whether he attached any special significance to the fact that the answers could make or break Zuma's career, Naidu refused to comment.

He would also not comment on whether Zuma was helping him draft the replies, which he hoped to finish in the "course of next week". Zuma is reported to be out of the country.

His spokesperson Lakela Kaunda said the deputy president's legal team was working on the questions and the replies should be ready for submission within the next two weeks.

Is the vilification campaign against Ngcuka the beginning of the end for the Scorpions?

A source said Naidu, a special prosecutor in the Throb nightclub trial, had also represented Penuell Maduna while he was minister of minerals and energy affairs.

Another source said Naidu was highly respected in legal circles and had been offered a position on the Bench, but declined because "he is making more money as a lawyer".

Zuma is embroiled in a wrangle with Scorpions' director Bulelani Ngcuka which has assumed political undertones and polarised the African National Congress into factions.

South Africa's most powerful man after President Thabo Mbeki stands accused of having solicited a R500 000 bribe from one of the successful bidders in the multi-billion rand arms tender, an allegation he has vehemently denied.

Ngcuka has come under mounting pressure from ANC heavyweights for the manner in which he has handled the investigation, while he himself has accused some "comrades criminals" of waging a smear campaign against him.

The public spat between the two men arose after the questions were leaked to the press, prompting speculation that he was a victim of a political witchhunt and that his name was being sullied to make way for a possible successor to Mbeki.

Ngcuka has denied his department was responsible for the leak.

Further muddying the already murky waters are reports that pressure was being brought to bear on the Scorpions for investigating top ANC officials. This has lead to speculation that the unit is going to have its wings clipped.

The Democratic Alliance has slammed Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi's proposed "review" of the Scorpions as "nothing less than a veiled threat" aimed at intimidating the unit as it investigates Zuma.

She told a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday the government was currently reviewing the role of the Scorpions. She made a concerted bid to separate the review from the Zuma case.

But the justice ministry - responsible for the Scorpions - said it was unaware of Moleketi's review.

DA spokesperson Hendrick Schmidt said Willem Heath's special unit was shut down when it attempted to pursue alleged government corruption vigorously.

He asked if the vilification campaign against Ngcuka was the beginning of the end for the Scorpions

With acknowledgements to Bheko Madlala, Jeremy Michaels, Charles Phahlane and the Daily News.