"Please be patient," urged National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman Tlali Tlali as speculation that graft charges may be dropped against ANC leader Jacob Zuma continued on Monday.

Asked for details on what time prosecutors would meet on Monday to discuss whether to go ahead with the prosecution against the man most likely to be president after the April 22 election, Tlali said these details were not important.

"What is important is the decision, and the NPA undertook to communicate its decision appropriately once such a decision is in place."

This comes after news reports speculated that the latest "representations" made to the NPA by Zuma's legal team may lead to the charges against him being dropped.

On the Friends of Jacob Zuma website, "Concer" wrote "Mpshe, hurry up and vindicate us", referring to acting prosecutions boss Mokotedi Mpshe.

"The battle you are facing Msholozi is about to be WON very soon," wrote Bongani Majola.

Earlier, Tlali told SAFM that there were "outstanding issues" which required the NPA "to conduct some investigation, research or verification process".

"It is only once that particular process is concluded that the NPA will make a decision.

"This meeting that is being convened for today [Monday]... it is for the NPA leadership to meet with the project team responsible for the investigation and prosecution of Mr Zuma to deal with the matter.

"We are not oblivious to the anxiety around this matter. It is one huge matter that has attracted a lot of public and media interest, both domestically and abroad," Tlali told the radio station.

Although both the NPA and Zuma's legal team have opted not to discuss details of the representations, news reports say the latest representations to the NPA are recordings of phone taps that may substantiate Zuma's opinion that he is the victim of a political conspiracy.

Zuma, the ruling African National Congress' presidential candidate, is facing fraud and corruption charges related to a multi-billion dollar government arms deal.

The announcement would end a lengthy legal battle between the authority and Zuma.

Both currently also have dates for the High Court in Pietermaritzburg and the Constitutional Court, in a case that has not yet reached the plea stage.

In August 2003 national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka announced that Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik would be charged with corruption and fraud, adding that though there was a prima facie case against Zuma too, the NPA would not be charging him because it did not believe the case was winnable.

Zuma cried foul, claiming a political conspiracy aimed at derailing his bid to succeed Thabo Mbeki in the presidency, an assertion he's maintained ever since.

Shaik went on trial a year later, and in June 2005 was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was controversially released on medical parole earlier in March after serving less than three years of his sentence.

After Shaik's conviction, Mbeki sacked Zuma from the deputy presidency, naming Ngcuka's wife Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in his place, and a week after that the NPA announced it was going to prosecute Zuma on two counts of corruption.

He was then charged but the case was struck off the role.

He was indicted again in 2007, shortly after being elected ANC president.

But on September 12, 2008 in the Durban High Court, Judge Chris Nicholson ruled the State's decision to prosecute him was unlawful because the state had failed to take representations from Zuma on the case.

Nicholson also said the former deputy president was not wrong to infer a political conspiracy against him.

In January this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned Nicholson's ruling.

The criminal charges against Zuma, 16 in total, one of racketeering, one of money-laundering, two of corruption and 12 of fraud, were then reinstated.

The arms company alleged to have paid the bribe, also wants the case against them to be stopped.

Meanwhile, after a busy week of beating the campaign trail, Zuma is expected to be "in the office", attending to party business on Monday, with no public engagements scheduled, said Ishmael Mnisi, an ANC spokesman.

He said that while the party does not get involved in the representations, they are keen to know if there is a decision today or whether there will be further engagements.

With acknowledgements to Sapa.