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A se t of classified documents that were apparently stolen from the National Intelligence Agency became the main point of contention before the Hefer Commission on Friday.

These documents were allegedly used to substantiate claims that Bulelani Ngcuka, the national director of public prosecutions, had been an apartheid spy.

The documents were "quite clearly" obtained a few months ago by a journalist, commission evidence leader Kessie Naidu told lawyers for official spy agencies on Friday.

Former African National Congress intelligence operative Mo Shaik subsequently appeared in a television interview, purportedly using similar documents as proof, Naidu said.

He was referring to journalist Ranjeni Munusamy, who was the main author of a news story alleging that Ngcuka might have been an apartheid spy.

Shaik and fellow former intelligence operative Mac Maharaj later on publicly confirmed the reported accusations, eventually triggering the Hefer inquiry.

Advocate George Bizos, SC, representing the security services, reacted sharply on Friday when Naidu suggested that the NIA had "allowed" the disputed documents to leave its shelves.

He said there was no evidence to prove this.

Naidu corrected himself by saying the documents were supposedly stolen.

Bizos's contentions on Friday demonstrated the dilemma in which Ngcuka's accusers would be if their only proof were in fact unauthorised intelligence documents.

In a submission on behalf of the security services the human rights lawyer pointed out that legislation prohibited the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information.

This included the identities of spies.

The restrictive regulations related to all current and former intelligence officers, including those who before 1994 worked for government or the liberation movements.

Nobody may "go to soapboxes or reporters" to disclose such information.

Breaches of this law were serious offences, Bizos warned.

He said it was unclear why the agencies now had to provide proving documentation if "people" earlier stated they already had the relevant documents.

"People don't seem to have the documents anymore," Judge Joos Hefer responded dryly.

Bizos said they were then using "too long a rod and too long a line" by trying to retrieve it from the agencies.

He continued that a common legal principle was that accusers had to provide evidence to prove their allegations.

"If they can't, the commission will know what to do".

Further evidence led before the commission on Friday refuted allegations that the security police paid Ngcuka's tuition fees and arranged a passport for him in the apartheid era.

His former jail-mate, Mbulelo Hongo, denied that he did not serve a prison sentence he received during the eighties for refusing to testify in a treason trial.

The commission will resume its public hearings today at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. – Sapa.

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