The friendship was founded on trust, and trust alone. It was in the early '90s and Jacob Zuma had been smuggled by the ANC into apart-heid South Africa to do many things, including intelligence for Operation Vula.

Once inside South Africa and KwaZulu Natal, Zuma, a powerful figure in ANC intelligence, had to operate underground.

He had to remain undetected by the apartheid security police, then on the prowl, despite the fact that it was clear that the end of the apartheid state was nigh.

Zuma was harboured by the Shaik family in Durban. Not only did they protect him from the security police but they looked after him and provided for all his needs.

When he arrived in the country, Zuma, like most ANC cadres who had been in exile, had nothing. He had to rely completely on the Shaiks for survival.

So, it turns out, Schabir Shaik, one of the people he trusted with his life during difficult times, is the person he has trusted with his financial affairs.

Much later in life, the friendship has become a matter of public interest. It has become a subject of a high-profile court case.

On Monday, the state brought several charges against Shaik and companies that he owns. The charge sheet against Shaik reads like one against Zuma.

In the charge sheet, allegations are levelled on how Shaik solicited a bribe on Zuma's behalf from a French company that benefited in the R60-billion arms deal.

The charge sheet also contains details of how payments were made, for no reason, by Shaik to Zuma and members of his family. These payments total just over R1-million.

Parliament would have to decide whether or not these payments constituted gifts which the deputy president should have declared.

The revelations in the court case came days after the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions announced that it would not charge Zuma. The NDPP said that while it had - on the face of it - a case against Zuma, it did not have sufficient evidence to win the case in court. So the authority decided, so to speak, to cut its losses.

The allegations levelled against Zuma are quite serious and political hawks have already pounced. Almost all opposition parties have called on Zuma to step down or for President Thabo Mbeki to fire him.

The basis for the calls have been that Zuma has been tainted and that South Africa could not afford to have, as a deputy president, someone with a huge black cloud hanging over his head.

The announcement on August 23 and the tabling of the Shaik charge sheet two days later has landed Zuma with a major problem.

First, the situation is particularly unfair on Zuma. Severely serious allegations - still to be tested by the court - have been levelled against him. The nature of the allegations are such that the private life of our deputy president has been laid bare. It was unfair that Zuma was not charged, and therefore denied a chance to defend himself.

What Zuma desperately needs now is a formal opportunity to state his side of the story; to answer all the allegations that have been levelled against him. This would not only help him to restore his dented image but would, simply, be fair to him.

What Zuma needs now is an opportunity to explain some things and clear his name. Only he can explain the meetings that allegedly took place and the transactions that are before the court. And who better to offer him this opportunity than his friend-for-life, Shaik.

Because the NDPP has denied Zuma a chance to answer by not charging him, Shaik must, as he has done before, come to Zuma's rescue.

He must add Zuma to the list of witnesses who will testify in his defence.

This would give Zuma an opportunity that he says he relishes - a day in court to clear his name. Zuma cannot force the NDPP to press charges against him. However, Shaik is free to choose whoever he wants to testify in his defence.

He will, in any case, need some people, including Zuma, to corroborate or refute some of the information that has been revealed in court.

The other institution that can come to Zuma's rescue is the NDPP, which cannot be counted among the friends of the deputy president at the moment.

The prosecuting authority has indicated that it would re-consider its decision not to charge Zuma once new information came forth. So far no new information has emerged but, based on the Shaik charge sheet, the NDPP should have reason to bring Zuma to court.

Charging him will allow him to answer all these allegations levelled against him and bring evidence to support his defence.

However, like Zuma, the NDPP is trapped between a rock and a hard place. How does the prosecuting authority take to court a case that it has no confidence in winning?

With acknowledgements to Jovial Rantao and The Star.