Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi is to be charged with corruption and defeating the course of justice after his application to prevent the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) from prosecuting him was denied in the Pretoria High Court on Friday.
Judge Nico Coetzee said Selebi’s application bore no merit and it was struck off the roll. He said that the administration of justice would be brought into disrepute if Selebi was not prosecuted.
Selebi’s lawyer, advocate Jaap Cilliers, told the court that he had never seen a more vague charge sheet. He described the charges against Selebi as being ”very vague allegations”.
The court heard that the decision to prosecute Selebi was unlawful and would further tarnish his reputation, to which Coetzee replied: ”His reputation is tarnished already.”
The NPA said earlier on Friday it was ready to charge Selebi, also the chief of Interpol, and that the indictment against Selebi would be served on him depending on the outcome of his court application.
In an answering affidavit to Selebi’s application to stop the NPA from charging him, acting national director of public prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe said the NPA was not planning to arrest Selebi.
”I have undertaken that if he is to be charged, he will not be arrested and an arrangement will be reached with his attorney for a date on which he has to appear in court,” Mpshe said in the papers.
This would be in stark contrast to the dramatic arrest of the NPA official who heads the Selebi investigation, advocate Gerrie Nel, who was detained and handcuffed by about 20 armed police officers at his Pretoria home this week.
Nel’s case was postponed to Monday to give the prosecution time to study the docket, which contains charges of corruption and defeating the administration of justice.
Mpshe said the charges against the police chief relate to Selebi’s relationship with murder accused Glenn Agliotti and payments by Agliotti of more than R1,2-million to Selebi in 2004 and 2005.
The charges are based on Selebi turning a blind eye to Agliotti’s involvement in transporting a large quantity of Mandrax, interventions Selebi made on behalf of Agliotti and confidential intelligence reports released from British authorities relating to drug-trafficking activities of Agliotti.
The NPA said Selebi tipped Agliotti off that he had been identified in the course of the Brett Kebble murder investigation.
Pikoli suspension
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said the NPA’s decision to charge Selebi vindicated suspended NPA head Vusi Pikoli. ”This is egg on the face of the government, because they intervened in a decision by an independent institution … and they messed up the whole thing,” he said.
”I hope they’ve learned a lesson. And now I don’t see any reason why they can’t reinstate Pikoli and stop that nonsense of Ginwala,” he said.
He was referring to the inquiry ordered by President Thabo Mbeki and headed by former parliamentary speaker Frene Ginwala into Pikoli’s fitness to hold office. Pikoli was suspended last year after it emerged that the NPA had obtained a warrant for Selebi’s arrest.
The arrest, Holomisa said, had been delayed by the intervention of Mbeki and Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla, who complained Pikoli did not consult her before getting the warrant.
”Right from the word go Pikoli was correct: there was no need to ask for permission,” Holomisa said.
Suspension demanded
The Democratic Alliance (DA) demanded the immediate suspension of Selebi.
”South Africa’s international reputation now teeters on the brink of irredeemable infamy. The turf war between the South African Police Service and the NPA has now reached crisis point and is creating a vacuum being filled by organised crime,” the DA said in a statement.
”The ramifications of having the national police commissioner face criminal charges cannot be underestimated. The implications for this country in relation to investment and foreign credibility are enormous in the light of the position this country holds on the African continent and also within the United Nations.”
The DA welcomed the decision of the NPA to move forward with its charges against Selebi, adding it was relieved to see that the NPA refused to allow itself to be intimidated from bringing criminal charges as the NPA is constitutionally mandated to do.
It added: ”The silence on the part of the both the president and the minister of safety and security in relation to this crisis has been deafening.”
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) also said Selebi should be suspended.
Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, MP and leader of the ACDP, called on Mbeki to suspend the police chief immediately pending the finalisation of the criminal prosecution against him.
The ACDP also called for an inquiry in terms of the Police Act into whether Selebi is a fit and proper person to hold office as national commissioner in view of the serious allegations against him.
”It is disgraceful that the head of the NPA, advocate Vusi Pikoli, was immediately suspended, purportedly due to a breakdown in relations with the minister of justice and constitutional development, while no such similar action has been taken against Selebi, notwithstanding the very serious allegations against him,” the ACDP said.
Objection
Also on Friday, the Mail & Guardian strongly objected to allegations made about it in an affidavit by Selebi supporting his court application to stop the NPA from prosecuting him.
In his founding affidavit, he argued that the Scorpions’ case against him was nothing more than a scandalous plot. The Scorpions were fighting for their survival and had launched a media campaign against him in a bid to discredit him, he claimed.
M&G editor Ferial Haffajee and reporters Nic Dawes, Stefaans Brümmer, Sam Sole and Adriaan Basson said on Friday afternoon that Selebi made a number of claims regarding the newspaper in his affidavit.
”These claims are untrue,” they said. ”Most significantly, Commissioner Selebi claims: ‘I have received information that members of DSO [Directorate of Special Operations] even went on a so-called ‘bosberaad’ with members of the media, more in particular members from the Mail & Guardian, to discuss and structure this campaign against me.”’
The M&G said: ”This is absolutely untrue and an allegation for which the commissioner provides not a shred of evidence. The allegations are deeply damaging to our credibility. We would expect the national commissioner to have a better understanding of the sanctity of a sworn statement.”
In fact, the M&G has not enjoyed a close relationship with the Scorpions or with the National Prosecuting Authority. On at least two occasions, representatives of both agencies have attempted to quash publication of allegations related to their investigation of Selebi.
”Once they visited our offices threatening to gag us through an interdict and on another occasion they approached the court for an interdict — in which they failed. This is hardly evidence of a joint and strategic campaign,” said the M&G.
In his affidavit, Selebi also claimed: ”When evaluating the reports in the media, in particular the Mail & Guardian, the only logic conclusion is that the media was provided with information from inside sources within the NPA and DSO.”
”This is a serious distortion. Since the second half of 2005, when the M&G started investigating the relationship between Selebi and Glenn Agliotti, the M&G has relied on a wide array of sources, on and off the record,” said the newspaper.
The M&G exposed the relationship between Selebi and Agliotti in the article ”Selebi’s shady Kebble links” (May 26 2006). Since then the newspaper has tended to lead media coverage on the Selebi matter.
”Commissioner Selebi appears to misunderstand that in a democracy the media is duty-bound to expose serious allegations of wrongdoing in high places. The public interest demands no less. He also appears to underestimate the resourcefulness of media like the M&G in getting access to information by means other than spoon-feeding,” the newspaper said.