Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint will use the next few months to try to quash the fraud, corruption and racketeering charges against them.

On August 4 - the date the trial was scheduled to start - Zuma's legal team will apply to have the decision by the prosecuting authority to charge him declared unlawful. If successful, this could result in the case being struck off the roll - as it was by Judge Herbert Msimang when the state was not ready to proceed against him in June 2006.

But that leaves open the option for him to be recharged. And the real fight is expected to come in September, when Zuma and Thint are both expected to lodge applications for a permanent stay of prosecution, possibly raising constitutional issues around trial fairness.

If they win this battle, they will be the ultimate victors in the war.

This was the outcome yesterday of the meeting in the Pietermaritzburg High Court chambers of KwaZulu Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala between Zuma and Thint's legal teams and the prosecutors - advocates Billy Downer and Anton Steynberg - to map out the way forward.

The meeting was arranged after Thint - accused of bribing Zuma for protection during a probe into the arms deal - complained that they had not been consulted over the August trial date set down on the indictment served in December last year.

Thint's attorney, AJ Sooklal, said the company was not ready for trial, citing various reasons, including the fact that the Constitutional Court had yet to rule on the legality of the Scorpions' raids on its offices and those of Zuma, his associates and his attorneys.

Sooklal, in a letter to Steynberg, also pointed to the as yet unresolved legal battle in Mauritius over the state's bid to obtain original documents, seized from Thint's parent company there, and which are being held under court injunction.

Without rulings on either of these issues, he said, his client did not know exactly what charges it had to answer to and could not request further particulars.

Downer confirmed that Zuma intended to attack the National Prosecuting Authority's decision to reinstate the prosecution.

It is believed that the challenge will focus on procedures the NPA followed in deciding to prosecute Zuma in light of the fact that previous national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, at the time of charging former Zuma financial adviser Schabir Shaik, decided not to charge Zuma.

With acknowledgements to Tania Broughton, Sharika Regchand and The Star.