Bloemfontein : There were two men at the Hefer Commission yesterday whose lives have been disastrously jolted by a report.

One is the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka.

A 14-year-old spy report, allegedly referring to him, the MJK Report, was resuscitated by Mo Shaik, the intelligence operative whose unit was originally responsible for it.

The second person is former transport minister and struggle stalwart Mac Maharaj.

Following a raid by the Scorpions on the offices of Nkobi Holdings, headed by Schabir Shaik, Maharaj was, first, accused of corruption connected with tenders awarded during his tenure as transport minister.

Second, questions were raised about money which was paid to his wife and about a trip he and his family took to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

This prompted an investigation by FirstRand Group of banks, where Maharaj was a director, into the allegations.

Maharaj requested this investigation himself.

The final report, the so-called FRB Internal Investigation, was never made public, but Maharaj resigned because he believed the questions raise about him made his position there untenable.

Questions have been raised and tempers flared about the publication of both.

The information contained in the MJK Report, when first published, caused Ngcuka to threaten City Press with legal action.

This report also sparked the appointment of the Hefer Commission.

During his cross-examination, Mac Maharaj conceded that some of the details in the report are incorrect. Overall, he conceded the person referred to as the senior apartheid agent may not have been Ngcuka.

This suggestion by Ngcuka's counsel Marumo Moerane SC that he had the FirstRand Report in his possession caused Maharaj a great deal of anger and indignation.

Maharaj pointed out that he had an agreement with the bank that the report was not to be made public.

"Advocate (Rudolph) Maastenbroek (of the Scorpions) requested a copy of the report from FirstRand. I told them to give it under subpoena only.

"Otherwise the Scorpions will use and abuse it," he said.

Maharaj said there had been assurances that Maastenbroek gave when he asked for the report.

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