All eyes will be on Jacob Zuma in the next few weeks to see if he carries out his threat to intervene at political level in Mauritius to stop South African prosecutors from getting their hands on documents they need if they decide to prosecute him again on corruption charges.

The ANC deputy president has suggested that he intends making representations to Mauritian authorities that he is the subject of a political conspiracy and that any trial would be "political".

Yesterday, Durban high court judge Jan Hugo granted the National Director of Public Prosecutions an execution order.

This allows it to proceed with a letter of request for the documents to the Mauritian attorney-general in spite of a pending appeal on the matter before the Supreme Court of Appeal.

In the unlikely event of the documents being handed to the South African authorities before the appeal court's ruling, Hugo ordered they be kept "sealed and under lock and key" by either the High Commissioner of South Africa in Mauritius or by the registrar of the Durban high court.

In terms of the procedure in Mauritius, Hugo's order means that the attorney-general there, a political appointee, could continue deliberating over whether or not to release the documents.

The documents, which include a diary entry which purports to reflect a meeting at which a bribe to Zuma from French arms company Thint was brokered, are being held under a court injunction secured by Thint's holding company, Thales International Africa (Mauritius).

If the attorney-general decides to release them, he would have to make an application to the Mauritius Supreme Court, giving notice to Thales, from whose offices the documents were seized.

It is at this point that Thint and Zuma were expected to apply to the court to intervene.

But Zuma has indicated that he intends doing it sooner and might attempt to appeal at a political level when the issue is still in the hands of the attorney-general.

In "heads of argument" written by Zuma's advocate Kemp J Kemp, it is stated that should the leave to execute be granted "Zuma will be placed in an invidious position".

"(Zuma) ... intends to make representations to the Mauritian authorities concerning statements … with which he takes issue, especially the averments that the prosecution is not politically motivated."

It is stated further that should the Mauritian authorities release the documents in spite of this, he would take the decision on review.

During the application, Zuma's lawyers made much of the effect the letter of request would have on his public life and how it would tarnish his reputation abroad.

It was stated that the supporting documents "make no mention of the fact that the issue of a political motive as a component of investigation directed at all (Zuma's) affairs has been central to his resistance to the manner of investigation".

It was further stated that Zuma was disturbed that another government would be presented with a "one-sided" version given the ANC leadership elections in December.

In his judgment yesterday, Judge Hugo referred to Zuma's allegations of a tarnished reputation, saying that "any potential damage had already been done".

Zuma's lawyer, Michael Hulley, said yesterday the judgment was welcome.

"To the extent that it forbids them from getting the documents before the SCA ruling, we have achieved what we wanted."

NPA spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said: "We are quite relieved, even with all the conditions."

He repeated an earlier statement by the NPA that no decision had so far been made to charge Zuma. "We have never taken any decision to recharge the ANC deputy president."

Meanwhile, Zuma says he has been the victim of biased reporting, does not believe there is a struggle for the soul of the ANC and is confident the 2009 election in South Africa will run smoothly.

Addressing a World Editors' forum lunch in Cape Town yesterday, Zuma said he was "not certain" there was a battle for the soul for the ANC as some commentators had observed. He had also noted that others said the ANC was divided into two - or even three - camps.

Zuma said that in the face of an ever-diminishing parliamentary opposition, the real debate was taking place within the alliance and not parliament.

Zuma said he had suffered at the hands of some media who had tried and convicted him ahead of events and he was proceeding with defamation suits - including against cartoonist Zapiro - not to make money, but to underline the right to dignity and human rights.

With acknowledgements to Tania Broughton and Pretoria News.