There is an apparent lull in the world of Jacob Zuma, the former deputy president, as both the state and defence take until Wednesday to prepare final argument in his rape trial - after which, probably on May 8, Judge Willem van der Merwe will deliver judgment in the Johannesburg high court.

The last event to take place in the rape trial was on Tuesday when, just before the defence closed its case, the state filed "admissions" on matters that it did not intend to contest, thus obviating the need for the defence to call witnesses on these matters.

These included the admission that the complainant, the 31-year-old woman who has accused Zuma of raping her on November 2, had lied about having passed her matriculation exams.

But there is action taking place elsewhere, mainly related to Zuma's trial for fraud and corruption that has been scheduled for July 31 in the Pietermaritzburg high court.

Following the finding by Judge Hilary Squires in the Durban high court in June 2005 that Durban businessman Schabir Shaik had had a "generally corrupt relationship" with Zuma, the former deputy president was charged, alongside Thint, the local arm of the giant French arms and electronics manufacturer.

According to the office of the state attorney, acting on behalf of the national prosecuting authority (NPA), tomorrow at a residence in Oudeberg Street, Waterkloof Ridge, Pretoria, a motor vehicle is set to draw up at 3pm, and its driver or drivers will deliver a number of documents, unspecified objects and computer disks to the owners of the residence, Pierre and Bijou Moynot.

Ajay Sooklal, Thint's attorney, is expected to be present for the handover.

Moynot is the managing director of Thint, and the documents and disks were seized from his home, as well as from the Thint office, also in Pretoria, in the hours following 6am on August 18.

The operation that resulted in the search of the Moynot home and the Thint office and the seizure of various items is now before the Pretoria high court because Thint, Moynot and Bijou Moynot applied to have all the items seized by the Scorpions returned, and also that the search warrants, issued by Judge Bernard Ngoepe, judge president of the Transvaal, be declared unlawful and set aside.

It was because Ngoepe issued the warrants that he recused himself at the beginning of Zuma's rape trial in February. He said he accepted that Zuma might well perceive that he was biased against Zuma.

But, although the NPA is contesting the application with regard to the documents seized from Thint's offices, it is offering "as a concession that the seizure of material from the Moynot home may have been unlawful" to return what was seized from those particular premises - tomorrow.

The NPA has so far lost, but is appealing against, two similar applications related to search and seizure raids in connection with Zuma and Thint, for which Ngoepe also signed the warrants.

At the end of last year, the Johannesburg high court instructed that documents be returned to Julekha Mohamed, a former attorney of Zuma's, and the Durban high court ordered that documents be returned to Zuma and Michael Hulley, Zuma's Durban attorney.

Tomorrow papers will be filed in the Durban high court by Thint's legal team in which it brings an application compelling the NPA to provide a final indictment, witness statements, documents and other further particulars in connection with the July 31 trial.

It is understood the state has recently indicated that it was not yet in a position to provide these and so was effectively requesting that the matter be postponed till after July 31. The legal teams of both Zuma and Thint are strenuously opposing this request.

Last week Schabir Shaik's legal team filed his appeal papers at the supreme court of appeal in Bloemfontein.

"The state now has a month in which to file its heads of argument," said Reeves Parsee, Shaik's attorney, "and then a date will be set for the appeal by the SCA [supreme court of appeal]. I believe it will be in August or September."

On November 15 the SCA granted Shaik leave to appeal against his conviction on a charge involving "a generally corrupt relationship" with Zuma. Squires had previously refused Shaik leave to appeal against this conviction, which involved payments exceeding R1,2 million made to Zuma.

Squires granted Shaik leave to challenge only one of two corruption convictions, and one of fraud. Shaik was sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison on each of two corruption counts, and another three years for fraud, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Shaik has been celebrating the birth on April 10 of his first child, a son - Ya'asir Mohamed Shaik.

Shaik said this week that he was especially proud that Zuma had visited and insisted on cradling Ya'asir soon after he was born.

"You know that Judge [Hilary] Squires in a way wrote off my relationship with Zuma, saying it had merely been one of expedience. But of course it never was and still is not. That's why the old man [Zuma] insisted on being there to hold my son," said Shaik.

With acknowledge to Jeremy Gordin and The Sunday Independent.