Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana will definitely investigate "abuse of power" charges against Scorpions boss Bulelani Ngcuka after Deputy President Jacob Zuma's complaint last week.

"This is a serious matter and I hope we will have an answer - the people of South Africa need to know what is happening," Mushwana said in reference to South Africa's biggest political storm since democracy.

"Most people must be quite confused - that's what makes it serious. People want answers," Mushwana said yesterday.

Zuma's complaint was "within our mandate" and Mushwana was "quite confident that we should be able to investigate".

But he was still trying to find his way through the maze of allegations, counter-allegations, court proceedings in Durban and Pretoria, as well as the Hefer Commission in Bloemfontein, all of which were closely related and politically intertwined matters involving "the same Bulelani, the same Jacob and the same Schabir (Shaik - Zuma's financial adviser)".

"The complaint is not near what Judge Hefer is doing because the Hefer Commission is dealing with abuse of power which relates to alleged abuse of power due to Ngcuka being a spy. What we are dealing with has no bearing to anyone being a spy."

Zuma had not charged in his complaint to Mushwana that Ngcuka's alleged abuse of power was because the Scorpions boss was a spy.

Questioning Hefer's terms of reference, Mushwana said: "An abuse of power remains an abuse of power, whether you were a spy or not."

Mushwana said letters would be delivered to Ngcuka and Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, informing them that an investigation had been launched to determine how best to deal with Zuma's complaint. He had also requested documentation from Maduna's office relating to Ncguka's decision not to prosecute Zuma despite his finding that there was a "prima facie" case of corruption against the deputy president.  

Mushwana said: "We are still collating information which will inform us on how to proceed - whether to hold a formal inquiry, in which you will hear oral evidence, or whether other matters can be settled by way of written responses.

"Once we get the documents from the minister of justice and others from the deputy president, then we will be able to say 'this is the way we will go' by the end of the week.

Last Thursday Zuma announced he had laid a formal complaint with the public protector, calling for an investigation into Ngcuka's apparent "political act" of smearing the deputy president's name by the way the investigation into alleged corruption by Zuma relating to the arms deal was handled, and Ngcuka's attempts to ensure that a "cloud of suspicion" continued to hang over the country's second-in-charge.

According to Mushwana, Zuma's complaint was "voluminous" in that there were "no less than 2 000 pages" of documentation, including affidavits and press cuttings. Also included in Zuma's file were documents from Thales, the French arms company which was awarded contracts in the controversial arms deal and which the Scorpions allege Zuma attempted to bribe.

With acknowledgements to Jeremy Michaels and The Mercury.