Patricia de Lille, the irrepressible leader of the Independent Democrats (ID), credits President Thabo Mbeki's sacking of his former deputy, Jacob Zuma, for her decision to once again bring up unfinished business around the arms deal.

De Lille this week invited the same ferocious attack on herself as she did on September 19 1999, when she first alleged in parliament that even the highest office of the land, the presidency, was tainted with corruption in the multimillion-dollar acquisition deal, naming Zuma.

That day she brought a motion in parliament that to a large extent sparked off the series of events that culminated in the announcement this week that Zuma would be charged with two counts of corruption.

In an interview, De Lille said that although she has had regrets about the stir she created, she was now more adamant than ever to carry on.

"Let me confess, until Thabo Mbeki fired Jacob Zuma, I have said publicly that my brief in life is not to run after crooks, but to work for the underdog, and I was tired of fighting about the arms deal," she said.

"But when the president took that line [against corruption] last week, I said to myself, there is my inspiration now. I will go back and start the fight all over again.

"I think the president has put a responsibility on each and every one of us to fight this scourge in our country," she said, adding that she had to study the "De Lille dossier" from scratch. De Lille's original statement, her documents, later became known as the "De Lille dossier".

The dossier and the fact that she mentioned Zuma from the outset were key evidence in the trial of Schabir Shaik, Zuma's financial adviser, with whom Zuma was said to have had a "corrupt relationship".

"This document that everybody had dismissed in the beginning has now been validated and I sincerely believe that every sentence in that document must be investigated," De Lille said.

On Tuesday, she again invoked parliamentary privilege when she named six more people mentioned in the dossier. "These names, Madam Speaker, should be on South Africa's most wanted list," she said, demanding further investigations by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

In response, Trevor Manuel, the finance minister, launched a scathing attack on De Lille, calling her a "useful idiot" in the hands of those who failed to secure a slice of the arms deal.

Manuel charged that De Lille was showing contempt for the constitution and its Chapter 9 institutions, which, along with the NPA, had conducted a "thorough-going investigation" into the arms deal.

He was referring to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which had cleared the government of involvement in arms deal corruption, following probes based among others on her documents, which De Lille maintains were not given to her by failed bidders, although she still protects the identities of the informants.

"The reaction then [in 1999] was the same as Tuesday this week," she recalled. "They shot the messenger without looking at the information.

"This time around, you could see that the truth really hurts, because you could see Trevor Manuel's face and body language [as he was] trying to defend the indefensible."

She said Mbeki had "restored the faith in our democracy" and enhanced the separation of powers between the executive and parliament, which had become blurred during the "arms deal cover-up".

"What Manuel has done is to go in the opposite direction [to Mbeki]. He should be the first one to say the allegations must be investigated," she said, adding that she nevertheless respected Manuel as "a clean guy".

De Lille said the high court had now validated part of her dossier and that the same document had led to the successful prosecution of both Shaik and Tony Yengeni, the former ANC chief whip - and now Zuma - being charged.

Yengeni is trying to appeal against his sentence on being convicted of taking a discount on a vehicle from beneficiaries of the arms deal.

De Lille also wants to know what really happened to 19 others, including senior state officials, who were alleged to have accepted discounts on vehicles.

"Is it then not logical that we go back to where we started and say there are still some more implicated," De Lille said.

"We must avoid a perception that only certain people have been made fall guys in this whole saga."

She said that after she re-read the dossier this week, parts that initially did not make sense to her had come together "like the pieces of a puzzle".

After De Lille's original allegations she was subpoenaed by several state agencies, including Frank Khan, the former attorney-general of the Western Cape, who was asked by the government to peruse her documents for prima facie evidence of government involvement in arms deal corruption.

She said two days later, on January 20 2000, Mbeki said in a live broadcast there was no such evidence.

De Lille, who has received death threats, maintains that she always cooperated fully with the state agencies and also gave the documents to the former Special Investigative Unit, headed by Judge Willem Heath, the only agency with the power then to cancel the arms deal if corruption were to be proved.

Heath's unit was later left out of the joint investigation that cleared the government amid much controversy.

"I want to assist to root out the bad apples in the government," De Lille said.

With acknowledgements to Christelle Terreblanche and The Sunday Independent.