Jacob Zuma's bad week just got even worse: his bid to marry his fiancée, Princess Sebentile Dlamini of the Swazi royal house, looks as if it is foundering and he faces possible tax and legal bills totalling hundreds of thousands of rands.

The powerful Swazi Queen Mother ordered Dlamini - the granddaughter of the late Swazi monarch King Sobhuza II, and a niece of reigning King Mswati III - to her palace this week to discuss the fallout from the Shaik trial that has tarnished the former deputy president's name.

A source close to the princess, who did not want to be named, said on Friday: "The suggestion is that the wedding is off, though there has been no official word from the palace."

Qethuka Dlamini, a Swazi royal appointed to speak on behalf of the couple, could not be reached on Friday, and his cellphone had a recorded message saying: "You are not allowed to call this number", suggesting that he had blocked all incoming calls. Zuma's spokesperson, Lakela Kaunda, had not returned our calls at the time of going to press.

Dlamini's friend said it was disgraced Durban businessman Schabir Shaik who first met the princess - who was then working as a police official - at the Mankayane border post on the road between Piet Retief and Manzini.

Shaik apparently introduced Zuma to Dlamini not only because of her royal lineage but because she looks like a younger version of Zuma's ex-wife, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

In November 2002 the office of then Deputy President Zuma announced his engagement to Dlamini, and the Times of Swaziland reported that delegates from Zuma's Nxamalala clan had initiated wedding negotiations with the Swazi royals with a gift of 10 prized cattle.

For all his woes, Zuma is not penniless The friend of the princess said Zuma's precarious financial situation could have undermined his bid for her hand. Despite the princess's having been born out of wedlock, Zuma would be expected to pay lobola of "about 100 cows, at R3 000 a cow" - a sum of R300 000 that it appears Zuma simply does not have, despite Shaik's statement in court in February that he was still bankrolling the political high-flyer.

Zuma, 63, remains married to his first sweetheart, Sizakele Gertrude Zuma. Around 1982, while serving as ANC representative in Mozambique, Zuma took two other brides - Kate Zuma, then a Mozambican airline staffer, and Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma, then a medical officer in paediatrics at Swaziland's Mbabane Government Hospital.

The future deputy president and Dlamini-Zuma - who went on to serve as a controversial health minister and then as a respected foreign affairs minister - divorced in June 1998.

Financial pressure on Zuma could increase in the weeks ahead. He has lost his R878 000 annual salary and had to move out of his official residences.

Asked whether the ANC would pay Zuma a salary for party work, as is the case with other full-time office-bearers, spokesperson Steyn Speed said the party's leadership would "attend to such matters in due course".

The ANC's national working committee is scheduled to meet in Johannesburg on Monday.

The question of his tax affairs also needs to be resolved. The SA Revenue Services (Sars) refuses to comment on the affairs of individual taxpayers, but tax experts who spoke to Saturday Star said Zuma could be in for some hefty bills.

Tax law requires that all income be declared, even if it was illegally acquired, as in the form of bribes.

If Sars views the R1,2-million Zuma got from Shaik as pure income, he would face a R480 000 maximum tax bill, with possible extra penalties for failing to declare income.

But a tax specialist, who did not want to be named, said it would be difficult for Sars to prove that Zuma and Shaik had an employer-employee relationship. He said Sars would probably regard Shaik's bribe as "a donation", which would make Shaik, as the donor, responsible for the tax.

"Combined, Shaik and his wife can get tax-free donations for up to R60 000 each a year. Anything over R60 000 will be taxed at 20 percent. That's R240 000 Shaik has to pay the taxman for the R1,2-million he gave Zuma."

Tax legislation obliges an individual to declare a bribe as income, even though it is illegal.

"If Sars classifies this as a donation and Zuma didn't declare it in his tax return, Sars can hit him with a penalty of 10 percent to 200 percent interest, depending on how hard they want to be on him."

And, even if Sars agrees the R1,2-million was a loan, Shaik would have to declare the rate of interest to the receiver.

"If Shaik gave Zuma an interest-free loan, there is no tax implication for Zuma - if there's a contract to prove it. But, if there is no contract, the receiver can take Zuma on."

For all his woes, Zuma is not penniless. His pension was once estimated to be worth more than R5-million, and he has interests worth more than R1-million in a family property at Nkandla, northern KwaZulu Natal.

So far, the state has been footing the bill for Zuma's legal costs but it is not clear whether it would still pick up the tab if he is charged now that he is no longer deputy president.

With acknowledgements to Michael Schmidt, Chiara Carter, Christelle Terreblanche and the Saturday Star.