|
NPA ruling on Zuma was unlawful, says expert |
| Publication |
Cape Times |
| Date | 2009-04-16 |
| Web Link | www.capetimes.co.za |
The decision to stay charges against Jacob Zuma was unlawful and a tipping point
on a slippery slope for the rule of law in South Africa, says a prominent
constitutional law expert, advocate Wim Trengove.
In a scathing criticism of acting national prosecutions chief Mokotedi Mpshe's
decision to let the ANC president off the hook, Trengove said Mpshe had not
sufficiently weighed up the public interest in seeing justice done, particularly
regarding those alleged to have abused public office.
Trengove said Mpshe's decision was based largely on peripheral considerations,
such as "11th-hour shenanigans relating to the timing of the prosecution".
Addressing a public seminar at the University of Cape Town on Wednesday,
Trengove warned that the saga which had unfolded around Zuma had sent ominous
signals that the very fabric of society and the constitution could be eroded.
He appealed to civil society and especially to
lawyers to take a stand.
"We may later see this as a tipping point leading to a slippery slope to
the erosion of the rule of law", said Trengove, a guest of UCT's Democratic
Governance and Rights Unit.
The discussion, entitled "Zuma Walks: Special Treatment for Special Cases: Are
some more protected under the constitution than others?", was part of a seminar
series on "Security and the constitution".
Trengove has represented the National Prosecuting Authority several times in
opposing Zuma's legal bids to have his prosecution stayed.
Trengove said Mpshe had failed to apply the two-step test he had set himself,
which would have required him to establish not only whether the case was
fatally infected *1 by manipulation - as
indicated by taped discussions between former prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka
and ex-Scorpions chief Leonard McCarthy - but also whether this contamination
outweighed the public interest in seeing justice done.
Trengove added that Mpshe's conduct "seems to be
that of one only too relieved to find an escape from unbearable pressures" *2.
With acknowledgements to Cape Times.