African National Congress (ANC) MP and former state security minister Bongani Bongo has again called into question the credibility of the State's witnesses, in response to the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) application for leave to appeal the Western Cape High Court's decision to acquit him of corruption charges.

In March, the NPA announced it had applied for leave to appeal the court's decision to acquit Bongo of corruption.

Judge President John Hlophe granted Bongo's Section 174 application to have the case dismissed, based on the evidence presented, and he was acquitted of the charges.

Bongo has consistently denied an accusation that he tried to disrupt a parliamentary inquiry into state capture at Eskom on 10 October 2017 by allegedly attempting to bribe Ntuthuzelo Vanara, the evidence leader at the inquiry.

Earlier this week, JC de Jager, Bongo's lawyer, filed an answering affidavit, in which he ripped into several State witnesses.

He said: "One takes, for example, the fact that in evidence under cross-examination, Mrs Baby Tyawa (acting parliamentary secretary) was pertinently and specifically asked whether her evidence constituted the whole of the report of Mr Vanara.

"She confirmed that she had left nothing out. Only in questions from the court did she, for the first time, attempt to say that Mr Vanara mentioned the offer of a bribe. Up to that point, her evidence was that Mr Vanara had been asked to collapse the inquiry. There was no mention of a bribe."

He added: "It is entirely within the credibility decision-making function of a trial court to find, as the court did, that this failure to report a bribe was inexplicable on the part of Mrs Tyawa, if it indeed had occurred."

De Jager also said Tyawa could not explain why she did not mention the offer of a bribe in her "evidence in chief and pertinently in her evidence under cross-examination".

In handing down his ruling, Hlophe, at the time, also referred to the credibility of Vanara's testimony, and it not being corroborated by other witnesses.

"It is my judgment that Mr Vanara is not credible in some material respects. He is a single witness. Therefore, his evidence must be clear and satisfactory in all material respects."

De Jager took aim at National Council of Provinces secretary, Modhibedi Phindela, and secretary to the National Assembly, Masibulele Xaso.

He said Phindela and Xaso's evidence could not be corroborated by that of Vanara.

"Indeed, it was anomalous that the State was attempting to lead that which purported to be a previous consistent statement on the part of Mr Vanara, when indeed his statements to these witnesses were inconsistent," he said.