The report reportedly fingers his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale.
Zuma's spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said yesterday that the report would be released "no later than December7" after a newspaper group applied for a copy.
But Zuma's critics said the timing of the release was convenient for the president as the battle for the ANC leadership hots up.
"This is nothing but an attempt to discourage people from showing their hand and challenging for ANC leadership. Why release the report now?" asked one ANC provincial leader close to Sexwale.
Motlanthe and Sexwale's names have been linked to the ongoing ANC succession race.
But Maharaj said the Presidency was aware of the "potential misuse of the contents of the report".
"We wish to caution that the comments made in the report about individuals must not be elevated to findings of fact, as these were interim and untried comments," he said.
The oil-for-food scandal erupted after it emerged that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein had inflated charges on sales of its oil, the extra cash to be paid into its government accounts.
This was in breach of sanctions in place at that time, which stipulated that money generated by Iraqi oil sales could be paid only into an account supervised by the UN.
President Thabo Mbeki established a three-member commission, headed by advocate Michael Donen, which submitted its report to the Presidency in June 2006.
The Sunday Times got hold of a copy of the report in 2009 and reported that Motlanthe visited Iraq with deceased businessman and ANC funder Sandile Majali in 2002.
The newspaper said Motlanthe and Majali talked about the illegal surcharges in a meeting with Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz.
The report named Sexwale as a co-director of a foreign company, Mocoh. Mocoh allegedly paid some of the surcharges but, in the report, Sexwale says he knew nothing of this. Majali was at the time CEO of Imvume, which also paid the surcharges.
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi questioned Zuma's timing in releasing the report. He said that though Zuma's actions might be noble, the "inconsistencies open him up".
"...Why does he have an appetite to act in the public interest in this case? Take the Zimbabwe report of Judge Khampepe, for instance. Why didn't the same logic of acting in the public interest apply to that?
"These inconsistencies open the president to the negative interpretation that he can release this report simply because it does not find anyone guilty of breaking the law."
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