Schabir Shaik put it most pertinently himself: "Boom, boom, boom. One, two, three … they didn't uphold anything." The finding of the Supreme Court of Appeal was that unequivocal.

Of course there are many who see a conspiracy in the whole thing (it's all about Zuma, you see). And South Africans are forgiving of their fallen heroes - as Tony Yengeni found out in his now infamous last moments of freedom outside Pollsmoor prison.

But the scalpel that the five judges in Bloemfontein took to Shaik's appeal was a cold one and it was informed by the law. Their findings have serious implications for Jacob Zuma.

Last year Zuma was found to have a "generally corrupt relationship" with Shaik when the Durban businessman was found guilty of corruption and fraud.

Yesterday the judges agreed with the Durban High Court that Shaik had made 238 payments to Zuma totalling R1.2 million and his conviction for writing off the debt.

"We accept that the friendship was aggressively exploited by Shaik for his own business interests," the judges said.

During Shaik's trial Judge Hilary Squires identified four episodes as "examples of interventions by Zuma to protect, assist or further Shaik's business interests" in exchange for the R1.2 million. The Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed the argument that the payments were made to Zuma out of friendship.

The damning facts of the Shaik case have now gone before the Supreme Court of Appeal and been confirmed unanimously by five judges.

And while that in itself does not make Zuma guilty, it does suggest most profoundly that he has a case to face.

With acknowledgements to Cape Argus.