Publication: The Star
Issued:
Date: 2007-09-25
Reporter: Wendy Jasson da Costa,
Reporter: Karyn Maughan
Reporter: Louise Flanagan
| Publication |
The Star
|
| Date |
2007-09-25
|
|
Reporter
|
Wendy Jasson da Costa,
Karyn Maughan,
Louise Flanagan |
|
Web Link
|
www.thestar.co.za
|
Barely
hours after National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli was suspended, there
were already rumblings from the Jacob Zuma camp that the move was directly
linked to their man.
Pikoli, the National Director of Public
Prosecutions (NDPP), was suspended by President Thabo Mbeki at the weekend
following an "irretrievable breakdown" in the working relationship between him
and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla.
On Monday, government
spokesperson Themba Maseko said Pikoli would be subjected to an inquiry and that
his deputy, Mokotedi Mpshe, would take over as acting NDPP.
However,
Zuma has previously painted Pikoli as Mbeki's puppet
and his suspension comes after Zuma's repeated allegations that the state's
efforts to investigate him were "engineered" to cast him as a criminal ahead of
the ANC's crucial elective conference in December.
Pikoli's suspension
also comes days after the state completed its latest round of legal battles to
obtain evidence against Zuma and French arms company Thint in connection with
fraud and corruption.
Although under increasing pressure to reveal
whether the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) would charge Zuma again, Pikoli
and the state's representatives have made it clear that they would do so only if
and when they have finalised their investigations.
And this hesitation, Zuma supporters hint, is what is behind
Mbeki's decision to suspend him.*1
Once considered one of Mbeki's
inner circle, it was Pikoli who claimed to have taken the decision to charge
Zuma with fraud and corruption after the conviction of his former financial
adviser, Schabir Shaik. But Zuma has claimed in court papers that Pikoli did so
on Mbeki's instruction.
Pikoli vehemently denied these claims, which
were made in Zuma's successful bid to have the fraud and corruption case against
him struck off the roll.
Senior state advocates have reacted with shock
to news of Pikoli's suspension, and questioned the reasons for the move and its
lawfulness.
"We are all totally devastated," a senior prosecutor told
Independent Newspapers on Monday. "It is a massive shock."
Like all the
prosecutors interviewed by Independent Newspapers, he said there was no
provision under the constitution that allowed for Pikoli's suspension.
"It is for parliament to decide - if he is found to be incompetent, only
they have the power to fire him. Quite frankly, no one could ever make that
allegation. Vusi has always operated at the highest level of competence and
professionalism."
Another prosecutor commented: "This whole thing simply
cannot be about so-called working relationships, it simply cannot be. I think
that everyone is smelling a very large rat.
In terms of the National
Prosecuting Authority Act, Mbeki may provisionally suspend the NDPP pending an
inquiry into his or her fitness to hold office.
Mbeki may remove Pikoli
from his job for misconduct, ill-health, incapacity or if he "is no longer a fit
and proper person to hold the office", the act states.
The SA Communist
Party said yesterday that "shifting people around" was not enough because the
entire NPA needed an overhaul "very seriously".
SACP spokesperson
Malesela Maleka said the institution had lost credibility in the eyes of
ordinary citizens in the way it had conducted itself.
Democratic
Alliance leader Helen Zille said Pikoli's suspension had "immense national
implications".
She said the DA would request the justice portfolio
committee to be recalled as soon as possible for a full briefing on Mbeki's
decision. The committee is currently on a three-week recess.
Independent
Democrats leader Patricia de Lille said the ID would support Pikoli's suspension
only if he had failed to meet his constitutional obligations, and not if it was
"just" a relationship problem between him and Mabandla.
• This article
was originally published on page 1 of The Star on
September 25, 2007With acknowledgements to Wendy Jasson da Costa,
Karyn Maughan, Louise Flanagan
and The Star.
*1 This is nonsense.
The
reason why Pikoli has been suspended is because he is required to do things in a
very precise and directed way.
When things turn out not to be the liking
of his bosses, then push.