Former Deputy President Jacob Zuma has taken a lie detector test but because of his pending corruption charges trial, the results of the test are under wraps.

On Sunday night the television production company, RBK International Television, claimed that Zuma had taken the test under lights and camera for a political documentary titled The Zuma Media Trial before being relieved of his post by President Thabo Mbeki.

However, the outcome of the polygraphic test cannot be revealed because Zuma is now in court to face the same issues presented in the documentary.

The television production company says that if the footage is aired, the documentary may lead to the infringement of the sub judice rule and other legal implications.

The four-part, 45-minute each documentary series is currently in a storeroom in bundles of DVDs and VHS copies.

Producer Liesel Gottert said RBK's lawyers advised the company to hold back the sales "maybe until the court has passed its judgement".

"We have made refunds to people who had already placed cash orders. We will be waiting for our lawyers to give us a go ahead," Gottert said.

Gottert said after much persuasion she finally got Zuma to "be wired around the stomach and his finger tips. He was strapped to a lie detector machine soon before Shaik's court hearing began last year".

In an independently verified polygraphic test, we ask Jacob Zuma, under lights and camera, direct, intimate and crucial questions as to his alleged corrupt involvement with Schabir Shaik and the said arms deal," she said.

"We reveal his answers and test whether Zuma is truthful."

Four interviews, Gottert said, were held with Zuma "over a period of two years at the time when he was not prepared to speak to the media about the arms deal saga".

His three daughters, Msholozi, Phumzile and Duduzile Zuma, also appear and "they give insight into the family perspective".

"We started out by investigating the media and questioned whether it abused its mandate in deliberately moulding public perceptions. Even though I do not agree with all the interviewees' statements in our series, results of our investigation suggest that Zuma may very well be innocent of corruption," Gottert said.

"A carefully crafted conspiracy most certainly had its aim, the goal of having him removed from public office."

Gottert said the production team had taken a particular stance in the Zuma corruption issue. She said, however, they had been totally unbiased in the documentary.

"We have satisfied ourselves in our own view that there was a politically orchestrated media campaign aimed at Zuma which we uncovered in the documentary. One part of the series exposes high-level political interference and unethical journalists who admit to having been compromised in covering the Zuma and arms deal epic," she said.

She said when she started investigating for the production in 2003 she was convinced that Zuma was "just another corrupt politician".

Among the interviewees in the series are Nelson Mandela, Independent Newspapers' journalist Jeremy Gordin, Mo Shaik, Willem Heath, Patricia De Lille, media academic Professor Anton Harber, South African media mogul Saki Macozoma, City Press' Mathatha Tsedu, Ranjenny Munsammy and several other journalists, politicians and some people implicated in the arms deal saga.

Gottert said the documentary, with material which had never before been made public, had already attracted a lot of interest from the broadcasting organisations which she could not reveal on Monday night.

"About 90 percent of the material that carries legal implications is in part four in which Zuma is strapped to a lie detector and explains everything in detail. We can hold that part back and still have a more detailed documentary without clashing with the law," she said.

With acknowledgements to Poloko Tau and the Daily News.