Scorpions investigators are working frantically to complete their investigation into former deputy president Jacob Zuma, hoping to add charges of tax evasion and perjury on the charge sheet when he appears in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, sources said.

Legal experts said yesterday that Zuma was likely to face charges relating to his obligations to declare extra income to Parliament and the South African Revenue Service.

“Additional charges will depend on whether the investigators suspect wrongdoing pertaining to his obligations to declare income,” said Shadrack Gutto, a professor of law at the University of SA.

“If he did not declare extra income to Parliament he could be guilty of perjury. If he did not pay tax on the extra income he could have defrauded the taxman.”

Amid indications that Zuma’s legal team will oppose any further postponement of the trial for investigations to continue, pressure has mounted on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to produce a complete charge sheet next week.

NPA spokesman Makhosini Nkosi could not detail the charges Zuma would face next week in addition to two provisional charges of corruption.

“We cannot confirm or deny the possibility of charges relating to tax evasion. But we are still pursuing the investigation. It’s up to the discretion of the national director to pursue charges relating to perjury, even though (Zuma) resigned from Parliament,” he said.

In his judgment convicting Durban businessman Schabir Shaik, Judge Hilary Squires found Zuma had a “generally corrupt relationship” with Shaik, and said funds given to Zuma by Shaik were gifts, not loans. Squires recommended that Parliament investigate potential perjury against the then-deputy president.

But Michael Hulley, one of Zuma’s attorneys, said they would “vigorously resist” a likely NPA application for postponement.

It is understood that the numerous legal challenges launched by Zuma’s lawyers against the Scorpions’ co-ordinated raids on properties linked to the politician, had delayed the investigation.

An application was lodged in the Durban High Court yesterday for the return of all items seized during the raids.

The registrar of the court said no date had been set to hear the matter.

The application was brought by Hulley’s attorney Abbas Latib.

In what experts said was a legally adventurous move, Latib not only demanded the return of items seized from Hulley, but also wanted documents taken from Zuma’s residences in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal.

Nkosi said the NPA would oppose the latest challenge to last month’s raids.

The NPA is also appealing last month’s Johannesburg High Court ruling ordering them to return evidence seized from Julie Mohamed, another of Zuma’s lawyers.

Nkosi said even if investigators did produce a final charge sheet next week, Zuma’s trial would only begin in earnest much later.

But the political costs of any further delays have mounted, with Zuma’s supporters in the African National Congress and its alliance partners gearing up for an all-night vigil ahead of his Tuesday appearance.

The KwaZulu-Natal alliance secretariat yesterday said they expected more than 1000 people to attend next Monday’s vigil outside the court. Provincial heavyweights, including premier S’bu Ndebele, are expected at the court on Tuesday.

With acknowledgements to Vukani Mde and Karima Brown.