It was clear by the end of this week that corruption in the arms deal, the issue of who spied for the apartheid regime and the wrangling around the Hefer Commission have become submerged by a more pressing cause : restoring unity within the African National Congress.

The announcement by Penuell Maduna, the minister of justice, that he was wanting out of the cabinet and his remarks about how badly the ANC is hurting led to a public rebuke from ANC headquarters and a closing of ranks against Maduna's un-ANC-like act.

ANC officials were not impressed by his claim that he had informed the president of his intentions, nor with his explanation that it was for family reasons, when so many had made all manner of sacrifices during the anti-apartheid struggle.

President Thabo Mbeki was present at the meeting where Maduna was rebuked. Maduna was not, despite being a member of the ANC's national working committee.

Maduna's move tipped what was already an uneasy truce within the ANC in favour of Deputy President Jacob Zuma - whom many in the organisation felt had been hung out to dry after national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka's illogical and damning statement that there would be no prosecution despite prima facie evidence of corruption of evidence against Zuma.

There is a strong feeling within the ANC that Ngcuka should be publicly reprimanded for the statement and the cloud left hanging over Zuma should be acknowledged to be unfair.

But the rebuke is unlikely to lead to Ngcuka's resignation, which would seen as a setback for the judicial system and law enforcement capacity.

But that does not mean Zuma is off the hook. If Ngcuka and the Scorpions have their way, the investigation of the alleged R500 000 bribe will be taken further via the French connection in the search to verify the faxed letter.

But with Maduna stepping down, and a rebuke for Ngcuka, some measure of calm in the ANC's divided ranks have been restored.

But what of Mac Maharaj and Mo Shaik, who set the cat among the pigeons in the first place by making public claims that Ngcuka was an apartheid spy? They also want Ngcuka prosecuted over his prima facie evidence statement.

While Maharaj and Mo Shaik have been closely identified with the Zuma camp - as opposed the Maduna / Ngcuka camp - Zuma has skilfully stopped short of associating himself publicly with the claims that Ngcuka was a spy.

Because Zuma was head of ANC intelligence in exile, Mo Shaik, a senior intelligence operative, and Maharaj, head of the ANC underground project Operation Vula, it is an easy leap to assume that they are all of one mind.

While Zuma has repeatedly alleged that political motives underlie the bribe investigation - he has spoken about people with "other agendas" - he has been careful not to elaborate further.

If Zuma had made the spy allegations he would be in serious trouble within his own organisation for not having spoken to the ANC president about his suspicions.

Zuma was not in the cabinet, so he could not have been expected to share whatever suspicions he might have had with the head of government.

But Maharaj has incurred the ire of the leadership on both counts. He was in the cabinet when Ngcuka was appointed, but did not confide in the president about his suspicions, nor did he raise it with the ANC.

Zuma is innocent until proven guilty and has not crossed any lines within the ANC.

Maharaj has quit and re-entered the ANC decision-making bodies on several occasions over the past 10 years. The first times was after his arrest and detention in connection with Operation Vula.

In some quarters he is known as the "in-and-out"man.

Maharaj also came in for considerable criticism within the ANC circles during his period as transport minister for the nature and extent of the privatisation of his department.

But he has come into direct confrontation with Mbeki over the spy issue.

Mbeki has vowed that "the masses of the people" will never forgive those who named ANC members as apartheid spies.

In an interview with my colleague Jeremy Michaels this week, Kgalema Motlanthe, the ANC secretary-general, made the interesting point that since the ANC is in cahoots with the party that invented and sustained apartheid, it would be unthinkable that it could act against its own members for having been apartheid spies.

"We are working with, if you like, the high priests of apartheid - the NNP - and are not holding anything against anybody for whatever role they may have played," Motlanthe said.

The question is whether the ANC as an organisation is ready to move on from the liberation solidarity of the exile years and accept that, as Mbeki suggested, the new order is based on reconciliation rather than retribution.

The opposing camps that have formed within the ANC can be identified very much along the lines of populists versus technocrats : those who want to put liberation solidarity ahead of the strengthening of democratic institutions.

The official ANC statement out of Luthuli House this week, in which Maduna was rebuked, claimed there were no divisions within the ANC. Read that as code language for : "The Pary machine has gone into full swing to heal the divisions."

Unless the Scorpions turn up new evidence, Zuma is now assured of the number two position on the ANC list.

The million-rand question is : Will Mbeki reappoint Zuma as deputy president of the country after next year's election?

With acknowledgements to John Battersby and The Sunday Independent.