Johannesburg : Hardcore pornography was the last thing Jacob Zuma expected from the State.

But among some four million documents provided to the former deputy president in preparation for his coming fraud and corruption trial, his lawyers and those for co-accused, French arms company Thint, say they were "shocked" and "traumatised" to find over 15 pornographic images.

And Zuma says in papers filed at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday that his lawyers have "not yet fathomed" the relevance of the pornography, which he says was found on a "computer hard drive in a virus riddled format" handed over by the State on May 6.

The Cape Times has established that the pornography was not found on any computers belonging to Zuma or Thint, prompting defence lawyers to question its relevance to the case against their clients.

A member of Thint's legal team said the images depicted "the anatomy of women and men copulating".

"We had no idea what was on those files when we clicked on them, they just popped open all over the screen.

"Any accused person is entitled to know what documentation the State will use against them and it is in their best interests to examine that evidence - but it is obviously an appalling thing to be exposed to," he said.

Zuma's lawyer, Michael Hulley, refused to describe the images but said: "I didn't even know that sites like that were available on the internet".

Zuma and Thint's lawyers suggest that the pornographic material is more than simply offensive - it also shows that the State has done little to identify documentation directly relevant to the corruption charges against Thint and Zuma.

If this were so - and the State was not attempting to "drown" them with irrelevant information - the presence of the pornography would have been detected.

In an application before the Pietermaritzburg High Court, Zuma and Thint have asked Judge Herbert Msimang to either "permanently stay" their prosecution or - in a scenario that would make their future prosecution more difficult - to strike the case off the roll.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said the State would respond to the pornography claims when they filed a response to the application.

"It would be improper to respond outside of the court process about something contained in an affidavit," he said.

On Monday, Zuma's advocate Kemp J Kemp SC convinced the judge that the State's attempts to delay argument about the application until October were unreasonable.

Instead, Judge Msimang ordered that argument over the application be heard on September 5 - eleven days after the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein is expected to finish hearing Zuma's former financial consultant Schabir Shaik's appeal against his conviction and sentence for fraud.

The outcome of Shaik's appeal could have a major impact on the State's prospects of convicting Zuma, as it was after Shaik's conviction - and Judge Hilary Squires's finding that Shaik had a "generally corrupt relationship" with Zuma - that Zuma was charged.

With acknowledgements to Karyn Maughan and Cape Times.