The Court of Appeals found that the attorney-client privilege did not protect the tax accrual workpapsers, as the workpapers did not involve a communication made for the purposeof providing legal advice.
"It's still kind of ham-handed, but it served a strategic purpose, " said Trevor Parry-Giles, a political communication professor at the University of Maryland.
"Negative public communication, aimed at accessing resources or any other purpose, does not help the image of the country nor does it in any case reflect the true state of affairs, " a spokesman for President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet said in response to Zille's statement.