Jusitice Minister Penuell Maduna, his political ambitions called into question by a mining magnate and his past by an opposition MP, is to open a new front in a bid to clear his name.

Maduna has told the Cape Times he is to instruct his lawyers today to ask the Hefer Commission, whose hearings get under way in Bloemfontein on Wednesday, to subpoena Patricia de Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats, over her repeated allegation that he featured in a list of apartheid spies she first named in parliament in 1997.

"I want the commission to tell her to surrender all documents that she based the allegations on," said Maduna. He leaves today on an official two-week trip to three countries.

De Lille told parliament in 1997 that Maduna's name was among those in a list of apartheid spies.

She recently repeated the allegation to the media.

Asked to comment, De Lille confirmed that she had not yet been asked to testify before the commission, which begins its public hearings on Wednesday.

"But (Maduna) should not interfere with the commission," she said.

"We should wait to let the commission do its work and there should be no influence from any quarter."

De Lille would not say whether she would be willing to divulge her sources to the commission head, retired Judge Joos Hefer.

"Let the process take its course. We should respect the commission," she said.

Maduna said he was not interfering with the work of the commission as its expanded terms of reference stated clearly that it should probe whether he had misused his office "due to past obligations to apartheid".

Referring to earlier threats that he would sue De Lille for defamation, he said his lawyers would monitor disclosures before the commission before going to court.

In a second interview with the Cape Times, Maduna denied his sights were set on the deputy presidency.

He was commenting on allegations that he said mining magnate Brett Kebble - facing a Scorpions prosecution for alleged fraud - had made against him and National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka in a series of letters.

Kebble had claimed he was aiming for the deputy presidency, Maduna said.

He had also accused him and Ngcuka of being under the control of the United States Central Intelligence Agency.

"I don't have any political ambitions and have never done anything to suggest that I covet a higher political niche for myself," Maduna said.

"Mr Kebble alleged that I want to be deputy president and Bulelani wants to be minister of justice."

He had not regarded his position as justice minister as a "stepping stone to higher office".

"I have always accepted my appointment as a deployment by President Thabo Mbeki," Maduna said.

The embattled Maduna, who has also been accused of nepotism and corruption in his department, announced at the weekend that he would not be available to serve in the national cabinet after next year's general election.

His family could no longer bear the controversies, Maduna said.

He would, however, remain an active member of the ANC.

Maduna is the minister with line responsibility for Ngcuka, who is embroiled in a row with Deputy President Jacob Zuma, and the national prosecuting authority.

Maduna acknowledged that the allegations of spying and misuse of public office against him and Ngcuka, following the Scorpions' investigation into Zuma, had also torn the ruling ANC apart.

Maduna's decision to step down could make him the first victim of the deepening political row sparked by the Scorpions' investigation into whether Zuma was the "JZ" mentioned in a memo, about payments for "protection", written by an official of a French arms company that benefited from the multibillion-rand arms deal.

With acknowledgements to Christelle Terreblanche and the Cape Times.