The Democratic Alliance (DA) will oppose President Jacob Zuma's attempt to delay the release of the public protector's “state capture” report.

"A letter will be written to the Deputy Judge President of the North Gauteng High Court to state that we oppose President Jacob Zuma’s new attempt to further delay the release of the ‘Final Report’ into State Capture," the party said in a statement on Thursday.

Zuma’s lawyers indicated on Thursday that they would ask for a postponement of the court hearing, scheduled for next Tuesday. He said he needed time to respond to former African National Congress MP Vytjie Mentor’s late application to intervene.

Zuma applied to the court to interdict former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report, claiming he was not given adequate time to respond to her questions.

Madonsela was due to release the report on Friday, October 14, the last day of her seven-year term.

Gupta family

Co-operative Governance Minister Des Van Rooyen withdrew his application to stop the release of the report, as Madonsela had told him she had made no adverse findings against him.

“President Zuma’s continued and coordinated attempts to delay the release of the State Capture report leave us to conclude that the contents of the report will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” the DA said.

Madonsela investigated allegations of an improper relationship between Zuma and his friends, the Gupta family. They are accused of offering African National Congress members Cabinet posts.

Mentor said in a Facebook post in March that the Guptas offered her the job of public enterprises minister in 2010, to replace Barbara Hogan, in exchange for cancelling SAA’s routes to India.

In her affidavit, Mentor says she is seeking to intervene to ask that Zuma’s application be dismissed.

Mentor says Zuma met her in the Gupta family’s Saxonwold house after the offer was made. She declined it.

The DA, Economic Freedom Fighters, United Democratic Movement, and the Congress of the People have joined the case, to ask for an order that the report be released.