Cape Town - Speaker Baleka Mbete has barred parliamentary questions relating to the business relationship between deputy president Jacob Zuma and his adviser Schabir Shaik which were to have been debated on Wednesday.

Mbete gave the official opposition Democratic Alliance notice of this earlier on Wednesday, chief whip Douglas Gibson told I-Net Bridge.

DA finance spokesperson Raenette Taljaard had asked whether Zuma would reconsider his reply to a previous question regarding his meetings with Thales executive Alain Thethard and if so, when did he meet Thethard and what did he discuss with Thethard at these meetings.

She also was to have asked whether in light of the KPMG report submitted at the Shaik corruption trial - being heard in Durban - he would reconsider his claim to the parliamentary ethics committee last year that the payments he received "via Schabir Shaik were interest-bearing loans" and if not, what were the correct details of these payments.

Mbete is expected to provide an explanation to the national assembly later this afternoon.

The question about Thethard is believed to be central to the question whether the deputy president was bribed by the arms company, which is participating in South Africa's controversial arms deal.

With acknowledgements to Tisha Steyn and News24.