Schabir Shaik's family declared a "media shutdown" and were on Tuesday refusing to divulge whether lawyers would seek redress in the Constitution Court.

Schabir Shaik's brother, Mo, said: "We have now gone into media shutdown."

Asked on Tuesday morning if the family would take Schabir's case to the Constitutional Court, Mo said: "It should become clearer at the end of the day."

However, when contacted on Tuesday evening he said: "We are not done with consultation."

He refused to speak further.

Shaik was served with the surrender order on Tuesday, which means he would have to hand himself over by Thursday.

A statement issued by correctional services spokesperson Luphumzo Kebeni confirmed that Shaik was not yet in their custody and that his status in prison would be determined by a "a computerised point-scoring system".

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said he could not confirm when Shaik would have to report to prison to start serving his sentence.

"It's out of our hands. It's a matter between the correctional services and justice departments."

Asked when the National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli would meet with the prosecuting team to discuss instituting charges against Jacob Zuma and the French arms manufacturing company, he said: "It's an internal matter. All I can say is that they will meet."

The case against Zuma and Thint was thrown out of the Pietermaritzburg High Court two months ago by Judge Herbert Msimang when it emerged that neither Zuma, Thint nor the state were ready to proceed.

Zuma was out of the country and his aide Ranjeni Munusamy said he would only make a decision on whether to comment on Shaik's failed appeal once he returned.

Repeated attempts to obtain comment from Pierre Moynot, the chief executive of Thint, were unsuccessful.

With acknowledgement to Sapa and Mail & Guardian.