The fraud and corruption trial of former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni and businessman Michael Woerfel was postponed for 24 hours on Tuesday for the politician's lawyers to negotiate a settlement with the State.

The trial, which has been postponed a number of times since July last year, was to have started on Tuesday in Pretoria's commercial crimes court.

At the start of proceedings on Tuesday morning, Yengeni's defence counsel, Viwe Notshe SC, asked for a postponement until Wednesday as settlement negotiations had not yet been finalised. Woerfel was not involved in the talks.

"A postponement may be seen like a waste of time, but I submit that in the long run the negotiations are aimed at trying to shorten the trial by coming to some sort of agreement with the State," Notshe contended.

Prosecutor Jan Henning SC, said the State had received a proposal from Yengeni's counsel last Wednesday, which it found unacceptable.

Another proposal was submitted on Friday, upon which the State pointed out areas with which it was not satisfied.

Later that same day, Henning said, "we were informed that all our requirements had been met and that we would by Monday receive a signed document."

By Tuesday morning that had not yet happened.

Henning favoured a postponement until 2pm on Tuesday. That would allow the State enough time to arrange its witnesses for Wednesday, should no agreement be reached.

"We find ourselves in the situation now where we have no guarantee that we will have the document by tomorrow, and we have to arrange with our witnesses to be here," he said.

"We have people in positions such as the managing director of Mercedes Benz SA (Christoph Köpke) lined up to testify."

The State had already "put on hold" witnesses due to have testified on Tuesday on the basis of promises by Yengeni's legal team that a settlement document would be finalised by then.

Henning expressed concern about indications by Notshe that he had no instructions to continue with the trial should no deal be clinched.

"We need to have clarity in order to plan the way forward," Henning said.

Magistrate Bill Moyses granted a postponement until Wednesday morning. He gave Yengeni's legal team until 4pm on Tuesday to inform the State of the outcome of consultations and whether the State's requirements were met.

If no deal was reached, the trial would proceed on Wednesday regardless of whether Notshe had received instructions from his client, Moyses ruled.

Yengeni faces a charge of corruption for allegedly buying a luxury 4X4 Mercedes at a 47 percent discount in return for using his influence to "market" the products of Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG or Daimler-Benz Aerospace SA.

He faces an alternative count of fraud for failing to disclose the benefit to Parliament.

Woerfel, then head of Daimler-Benz's Pretoria representative office, is charged with corruption for allegedly arranging the deal.

Daimler-Benz was the manufacturer of the AT2000, which was at the time being considered with two other aircraft in South Africa's search for an advanced light fighter aircraft in terms of the arms acquisition process.

Both men face a charge of fraud for alleged false representations made in the agreement of sale drawn up for the car deal.

They have pleaded not guilty.

The trial was initially to have started in July last year, but was delayed several times by extensive legal wrangling over the charge sheet.

Last month the matter was postponed yet again due to Yengeni's appointment of a new legal team. According to newspaper reports at the time, previous counsel withdrew because Yengeni allegedly owed them about R800 000.

Earlier this month, the Legal Aid Board dismissed an appeal by Yengeni against its refusal to grant him legal aid. His initial application was turned down because his earnings were too high for him to qualify.

With acknowledgement to Mariette le Roux and Sapa.