Justice Minister Enver Surty was likely to be among the first to hear officially on Friday morning whether criminal charges will be dropped against Jacob Zuma.

And he was to be told by the man who has had to make the final decision under intense pressure, media speculation and internal divisions - acting prosecutions boss Mokotedi Mpshe.

There was speculation yesterday that Mpshe would advise Surty last night after a lengthy meeting in Pretoria, also attended by Deputy Minister of Justice Johnny de Lange and a range of other NPA and justice officials.

But the talks are understood to have focused on more mundane matters, such as budgets, and not whether the president of the ANC would remain criminally accused.

However, Mpshe was expected to inform Surty as a courtesy this morning whether the NPA will abandon its eight-year-long case against Zuma.

If he decides to proceed, it will be that Zuma's prosecutions team has won the day, against senior managers such as Deputy National Director of Prosecutions Willie Hofmeyr, who believe the State's case has been tainted by executive interference.

Zuma prosecutor Billy Downer argued forcefully this week that it should be left up to a judge - rather than the NPA itself - to decide whether "new" evidence of executive interference should scupper the prosecution.

Zuma's Durban lawyer Michael Hulley was to fly to Joburg again this morning in anticipation of a formal decision.

He did so on Tuesday, when his office was advised that a decision would be announced then, but returned after a two-day marathon meeting of the National Prosecuting Authority failed to get consensus.

Meanwhile, President Kgalema Motlanthe missed yesterday's deadline to answer axed prosecuting head Vusi Pikoli's accusations that he was fired in order to protect Zuma.

Government lawyers said on Thursday they needed at least three weeks to answer Pikoli's application to stop Motlanthe from appointing his successor.

In court papers filed earlier in 2009, Pikoli said he suspected that Motlanthe had dismissed him - despite the Ginwala Inquiry finding that he was a "fit and proper" person for his position - because the president and the ANC hoped to appoint a prosecuting head "more malleable than I am".

Pikoli claims he was initially suspended to halt the Scorpions' investigation and prosecution of National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

State lawyers have told Pikoli's legal team they need more time to answer his claims as they need to consult with people "no longer in government" - an apparent reference to ex-president Thabo Mbeki, who suspended Pikoli in 2006.

• This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on April 03, 2009

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