Days before Jacob Zuma's legal team do battle over the date for his corruption trial, his lawyers are frantically trying to hammer out a multimillion-rand government funding deal for his defence.

But, while confirming that the Presidency has agreed "in principle" to foot the bill for Zuma's criminal defence, state attorney Aletta Mosidi insists that he will have to pay back every cent if convicted *1.

The Star has established that Zuma's lawyers have backed down from their threats to sue the Presidency over the costs of his defence, and are now trying to resolve their legal billing impasse with the government.

It is understood the move comes after Zuma's legal team last week told his prosecutors that a lack of funding was a factor in their reluctance to commit to the state's mooted April 1 trial date for their client *2.

According to Mosidi, Zuma's attorney, Michael Hulley, has now made a "proposal" on how the Presidency will be billed for his legal costs.

"But the Presidency was not happy with the proposal and we are in the process of negotiating over it - through correspondence," she said.

The Presidency, responsible for paying Zuma's corruption case fees because he was accused of committing certain corrupt acts while in office as deputy president *3, has yet to reveal how much it has budgeted for Zuma's defence.

It also remains unclear whether the government will pay the costs of Zuma's efforts to have his prosecution declared unconstitutional or permanently stayed.

After The Star tried and failed to contact the Presidency's legal advisers, spokesperson Thabang Chiloane declined to comment on the legal fees issue.

Zuma previously received nearly R10-million in funding from the state for his previous corruption trial *4, struck from the roll by the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

It was the legal bill in this matter that sparked the ongoing dispute between Zuma's lawyers and the Presidency.

After expressing unhappiness over the way in which Zuma's legal costs tab in the aborted corruption case was presented, the Presidency sought advice from senior counsel Malcolm Wallis.

He found the bill fair and equitable and the Presidency was forced to pay up.

At the time, presidential spokesperson Themba Maseko claimed the delay in finalising Zuma's legal funding was "a result of protracted negotiations on the extent of the commitment and criteria for payment".

"These matters have since been resolved and the Presidency has made a contingency provision for an amount of R10-million in its budget to cover this risk," he said.

Several months later, after the state attorney's office paid the bill on the Presidency's behalf, the Presidency demanded a more detailed account on what costs comprised the bill.

While Hulley could not be reached for comment on his present negotiations with the state attorney's office, he earlier dismissed as "rubbish" any suggestion he had failed to properly account for money previously received from the state.

On Friday, Zuma's legal team will return to the Pietermaritzburg High Court to wrangle with the National Prosecuting Authority over dates for Zuma's permanent stay application and possible trial.

    * This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on August 13, 2008

With acknowledgements to The Independent on Saturday.