Bloemfontein - The facial expressions of National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka were a good barometer of yesterday's proceedings at the Hefer Commission of Inquiry.

There was no expression during yesterday morning's session, when Mac Maharaj presented his case. But yesterday afternoon, when Maharaj was cross-examined, the ghost of a smile returned to Ngcuka's face.

Essentially, what the former ANC transport minister's legal team did was to have Maharaj present a cleverly constructed argument.

This argument invited the commission to take a step back and, instead of focusing solely on the allegations that Ngcuka was once a spy, see a much broader picture in which Ngcuka had abused his power.

Underlying this was the implicit assumption that Ngcuka was seeking revenge for the ANC investigation of his activities in the 1980s. Maharaj said that an ANC intelligence unit (called the MKJ unit), under the command of Mo Shaik, had had "sufficient reason to conclude that Ngcuka was most probably an (apartheid) agent".

This is a summary of what Maharaj told the commission:

In the late 1980s Maharaj was the head of Operation Vula - an underground initiative to infiltrate ANC leadership into South Africa.

In the course of his activities he developed a need to speak to the leadership of Nadel (the National Association of Democratic Lawyers).

"A problem arose," Maharaj said. "Shaik said it would be unsafe because his information showed that there was an agent of the security forces in Nadel. He did not know who it was, but was investigating the situation urgently," Maharaj said.

"In 1989, Shaik said he had sufficient information to conclude that Ngcuka was the agent. He gave me enough to know what I should do," Maharaj said.

Maharaj then switched to February this year, when he received a call from Sunday Times journalist Jessica Bezuidenhout. She told him he was under investigation by the Scorpions. The investigation related to contracts awarded to Nkobi Holdings and its boss Schabir Shaik at the time that Maharaj was minister of transport. The contracts were for the credit card driver's licences and the N3 toll road.

Maharaj said he was completely unaware of any investigation.

He accordingly phoned Ngcuka, who replied: "Oh, God did they (the Sunday Times) come to you?"

Ngcuka then reassured him that there was an investigation, but that the Scorpions could not find anything. Maharaj said Ngcuka explained to him that the investigation arose as part of the investigation into the multi-billion rand arms deal (centred on Schabir Shaik) and said he would only make their conclusions known once the investigations were finalised. "I could not remain silent," Maharaj said. He then issued a press statement denying any wrongdoing.

Maharaj noted that the documents, which Bezuidenhout said she had, could only have come to her from the Scorpions, who had earlier raided the offices of Nkobi Holdings and Schabir Shaik.

"Given that the documents had been removed by the Scorpions, they were not likely to have been given to the Sunday Times by Shaik," Maharaj said.

Several allegations were made against Maharaj and his wife.

"The Sunday Times story was a fundamental attack on my integrity, which is the only thing I have in life," Maharaj said.

An investigation by Firstrand Bank, of which he was a director, cleared him, but Maharaj complained that the incomplete Scorpions investigation was hanging over him.

"I had no way to clear my name. I offered to resign," Maharaj said.

Then Maharaj was summoned to answer questions by the Scorpions in June.

"I looked at their questions and realised there were startling similarities to those of the Sunday Times," he said. "I told Ngcuka there was a leak in the Scorpions. I told him to stop the rot," Maharaj said.

He said he was concerned that his answers to the Scorpions should remain confidential.

A month later Maharaj received a phone call from the deputy editor of The Star, Jovial Rantao. Rantao told him that Maharaj's wife, Zarina, was about to be arrested and charged with tax evasion. Maharaj tried to find out Rantao's source.

Rantao would tell him only that it came from the Scorpions and was a person whom Rantao "had no reason to doubt".

Maharaj recorded a subsequent conversation with Rantao and confirmed that the information came from the Scorpions and had been received in the preceding seven days.

Maharaj then phoned Ngcuka. Ngcuka denied that the story was true. As Ngcuka and Maduna were together, Maduna also spoke to Maharaj and told him that his wife was not about to be charged.

Shortly afterwards Maharaj discovered that Ngcuka had had an off-the-record briefing with six newspaper editors and was, according to Maharaj, the source of Rantao's information. At the briefing, Ngcuka was alleged to have said that Maharaj would let his wife take the rap for him.

Maharaj then filed several complaints against Ngcuka. He also learnt, through the media, that the ministerial committee that was supposed to keep the Scorpions in check had not met.

Then, Maharaj said, Ngcuka phoned him. "Comrade Mac," Ngcuka reportedly said, "I need your help to get Zuma and Schabir Shaik to co-operate with the arms deal investigation.

I need Zuma to answer questions. I need Shaik to admit guilt.

Then we will mediate about your wife."

"I told him he was holding me to ransom," Maharaj said.

He received a fuller proposal for mediation in August. Schabir Shaik's brother Yunis received a similar phone call, Maharaj said.

Maharaj appointed attorney Ismail Ayob to investigate the proposal. It transpired that the issues were the following:

Schabir Shaik must plead guilty and there would be a plea bargain about his sentence.

Zuma must answer questions from the Scorpions, but would not be charged.

There would be mediation about the tax charges against Maharaj's wife.

Maharaj said that when Ayob told him this, he instructed him not to respond to the proposals.

Ngcuka's office later denied any attempts at mediation, he said.

Maharaj argued that the leaks to the press and the "lies" told to him represented a record of abuse by Ngcuka. After lunch evidence leader Kessie Naidu, SC, cross-examined Maharaj.

Naidu: Your evidence is tainted by bias. Maharaj: I reject that contention.

Naidu: If you weren't investigated, would you have revealed the allegations of spying? Maharaj: If I still had the view that what was happening was dangerous, I would have done so. I did not only do so in anger.

Naidu: Why then did you not say anything before? Maharaj: You assume I have not.

Naidu: Did you? Maharaj: I raised it in private. I brought it to the attention of high-ranking ANC members and the president.

Naidu: Did you tell anybody about it before you told the president? Maharaj: I told the president.

Naidu: You are not answering the question ... So the first time that you raised the spy-issue was after you became aware of the investigation against you? Maharaj: Yes.

As Naidu concluded his questions, Ngcuka looked slightly less troubled than he had during the morning. He even managed a little smile.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis, Jeremy Gordin and the Cape Times.