Zuma, convicted businessman Schabir Shaik and French arms manufacturer Thint.

In 2005, Shaik, Zuma's former financial adviser, was found to have attempted to solicit a R500 000 bribe from Thint for Zuma, in exchange for the then deputy president's protection from a potentially damaging arms deal inquiry.

Zuma has challenged the State to reveal whether it plans to charge afresh after the case was struck from the roll.

But the National Prosecuting Authority has remained tight-lipped.

In the current application, State advocate Billy Downer told the court that the State had yet to make a decision whether to prosecute Zuma and Thint, but that it was obvious that the State wanted the documents in question "for possible use in a possible future trial".

He revealed that the State's success in obtaining these documents could influence the final decision on whether to prosecute Zuma or Thint again.

Now the NPA is seeking to have 13 sets of documents re-leased from Mauritius.

These include the 2000 diary of former Thint chief executive Alain Thetard.

The State has claimed that "the entry (in Thetard's diary) for March 11, 2000, is a particularly important piece of evidence for the State …"

With acknowledgement to Cape Argus.