When he left the Durban high court this week feeling unwell, businessman Schabir Shaik escaped a growing - almost tangible - sense of apprehension in the court.

As Deputy President Jacob Zuma's "financial adviser" fights on from the witness stand, the atmosphere in court is almost like that of a besieged city waiting for the enemy to arrive. "Count 3 is coming," were the words journalists consoled each other with this week in moments of severe boredom.

Count 3 is the charge dealing with what the state alleges is an agreement between Shaik, Zuma and a former South African director of Thomson, Alain Thetard, to bribe Zuma in exchange for his protection and support.

It was also when giving evidence on this charge this week that Shaik threw the state's timelines into disarray. Up to now the chronology presented to the court was that Shaik had a meeting with Thetard in Mauritius in October 2000.

This meeting dealt with "damage control" that his counsel, Francois van Zyl, indicated was about the public images of Shaik's Nkobi group of companies and Thomson. Shaik's former secretary, Bianca Singh, was present at this meeting. She told the court the move to have Judge Willem Heath investigate the arms deal was one of the topics of discussion.

Shaik was still giving evidence on what has now become known as the Mauritius "damage control" meeting when he said: "My partners held the view that the problem of the encrypted fax was Zuma and Shaik's problem. I constantly tried to make them consider it as their problem as well. I had nothing to fear from Judge Heath. It was a normal rational discussion. I did not say I would be shivering and shaking in my boots."

But according to the evidence presented by the state, the fax emerged only months later. This week, however, Shaik told the court that he was "quite enraged, disappointed and shocked" when he read of the existence of the fax in a newspaper article (which would have been years after the "damage control" meeting in Mauritius). He said he then met the author of the fax, Thetard, to get an explanation but was unable to do so.

Subsequent meetings with representatives of Thomson also proved fruitless. Subsequent to that, Shaik said, he was charged with corruption and as Thetard's name appeared on the list of state witnesses he was unable to communicate further with him.

"M'lord, I deny that the discussion between Alain Thetard and me and Jacob Zuma dealt with any matter like defence contracts or protection. Nor was there any investigation to this day. There was nothing.

"I have known this man for all of my adult life. I was not part of any scheme or plot to bribe the deputy president."

With the sense that prosecutor Billy Downer was about to start questions on the bribe charge, the court was compelled to adjourn on Friday to give Shaik a chance to recover after he complained of "not feeling well at all".

The week had taken its toll on Shaik and Downer, who looked progressively tired as they fought, commented and objected their way through thousands of documents involved in the trial. The week had started brutally for Shaik when he admitted forging most of the qualifications on his CV.

He also admitted he had lied by stating he was a "graduate of prestigious universities in Europe and the United States", a qualified engineer and a published author.

But this, the ever-resilient Shaik was quick to point out, did not make him a liar. He had never been in trouble for not paying tax. "There is some good in me and some bad," he told Downer in one exchange. It was one thing to forge his credentials but another to cheat the taxman.

Shaik also admitted having no idea how much money Zuma owed him at this stage.

Downer: Do you have any idea how much money Zuma owes you?

Shaik: I have not applied my mind.

Downer: Does it bother you?

Shaik: I am comfortable that he will pay me back.

Downer: What have you done about that?

Shaik: I've done nothing. As soon as my trial is finished, I'll sit with him.

Shaik also admitted his financial relationship with Zuma, even though no secret, was kept confidential on at least two occasions.

In one instance he said Zuma insisted on him charging interest as he would have had to declare "interest-free loans" to parliament. Shaik admitted not becoming involved in an attempt by former president Nelson Mandela to help Zuma out of his financial crisis. Shaik told the court he was concerned that Mandela would not have helped Zuma if he knew of his involvement.

"I did not attend the meeting with Mandela or put down that Zuma owed me money. Mandela would just have said 'Shaik is back'. I did not want Mandela to know that Zuma owed me money.

"I knew that if Mandela saw my name he would not wish to fund the deputy president." Shaik said Mandela agreed to help under conditions Zuma found unacceptable.

Downer then probed the source of disagreement between Shaik and Mandela which, according to Shaik, had to do with a dispute about a Malaysian model of economic empowerment called "Bumiputera". A characteristic of this model is that government is involved in business.

Shaik said President Thabo Mbeki, then deputy president, told him this would gel with the free market economy the post-1994 government had in mind. Downer told the court he considered this a crux of the case against Shaik.

Later, during cross-examination, he suggested to Shaik that if the Bumiputera model had been law in South Africa, Shaik's relationship with Zuma would have been considered "above board".

Instead, Zuma was bound by the constitution in how he did his duties and Shaik and Zuma were bound by the laws on corruption.

Shaik said he was "not aware" of the content of those laws.

The trial continues.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and the Sunday Independent.