Justice Minister Penuell Maduna says he will convene the Ministerial Co-ordinating Committee to investigate allegations that National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) chief Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy.

Briefing the media at Parliament yesterday, he said in view of the allegations made by City Press newspaper and former transport minister Mac Maharaj, it was important to get to the bottom of the issue.

"I work with him (Ngcuka) and then I hear he is a spy. To listen to my own staff whose name is being bandied about. There is an allegation that has been made, the committee must do its work," Maduna said.

The committee includes Maduna and his intelligence, safety and security, correctional services, and defence counterparts, as well as any other Cabinet member nominated by President Thabo Mbeki.

Ngcuka intends to sue both City Press and Maharaj for defamation.

The newspaper reported the African National Congress in exile investigated Ngcuka in the late 1980s to establish whether he was an apartheid spy.

Maharaj confirmed the allegation during a SABC interview, saying he had seen the intelligence report himself.

Democratic Alliance justice spokeswoman Sheila Camerer "cautiously" welcomed Maduna's decision.

The Cabinet committee was originally intended to iron out any turf problems between police and justice over the Scorpions' operations, she said.

But, it was not "inappropriate that it addresses very clear attempts by parties implicated or related to those implicated in the (Schabir) Shaik case to discredit the Scorpions and their boss Ngcuka - as Maduna termed it 'the debilitating noise around the head of the Scorpions'".

"While this does not seem directly within their legislated mandate it is high time this matter was dealt with by the ANC government and finally put to rest.

"The DA believes it is essential that this ministerial committee meets as soon as possible so that the president or minister Maduna can report to Parliament without undue delay, and these dirty attacks on important institutions upholding the Rule of Law and the administration of justice can once and for all be dealt with appropriately," Camerer said. – Sapa.