President Jacob Zuma’s appointment of his personal lawyer Michael Hulley as his legal adviser in the presidency has raised the ire of unions, and the eyebrows of legal analysts. But his office says it is aware of the sensitivity involved in keeping separate personal and executive matters, and insists there will be no conflict of interests.
Zuma appointed Hulley to the position on a part-time basis with immediate effect on Wednesday.
Rape, corruption and Aurora
The relationship between the president and his new adviser dates back several years, with Hulley representing Zuma on several personal issues — most notably the rape trial in 2006 that saw the then-deputy president acquitted, and in cases regarding corruption charges from 2005 to 2009.
Hulley was instrumental in leveraging the leaked top-secret recordings that scuttled Zuma’s corruption trial in 2009. These included conversations between Leonard McCarthy, the former Scorpions boss, and Bulelani Ngcuka, the former national director of public prosecutions, which provided the basis for Hulley’s representations to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) that the Zuma investigation had been tainted.
Hulley also has business dealings with the president’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, with whom he was a partner in the ownership of the now liquidated Aurora Empowerment Systems, which oversaw the running of the embattled Pamodzi mines.
His appointment in the presidency was “a slap in the face for some 5 300 former Aurora employees and their families who have fallen into poverty thanks to the actions of Hulley and the other Aurora directors”, trade union Solidarity said on Thursday
Solidarity deputy general secretary Gideon du Plessis said Aurora had broken various mining and labour laws and violated their employees’ basic human rights during the period that they managed the Pamodzi mines. “All of this went on while Hulley, an advocate who is supposed to be a protector of the law and human rights, looked on,” said Du Plessis.
The trade union called on Parliament’s portfolio committee on mineral resources to support its demand for the immediate rescission of Hulley’s appointment. The committee recommended last Friday that criminal charges be brought against all Aurora directors.
Legal matters
Hulley’s appointment comes in the wake of Zuma’s decision-making on several key legal issues being brought into question, especially his decision to extend former Constitutional Court Judge President Sandile Ngcobo’s term by five years. The controversy surrounding this matter ended when Ngcobo stepped down of his own accord.
But the executive expressed confidence that Hulley’s appointment presented no ethical challenges. Any potential for conflicts of interest in Hulley’s role would be “managed”, said Zuma’s spokesperson, Mac Maharaj.
“Those things would be taken care of … he would recuse himself from issues that touch on him. He is a part-time person and his job is as an adviser on matters of legal interest, so I think it would be taken care of through the processes,” Maharaj told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday.
While Zuma’s office assures any conflict will be handled along the way, legal opinion would suggest it would be tricky.
Constitutional law expert Professor Pierre de Vos wonders if Hulley’s appointment is “bona fide”.
“There is a blurring of Mr Zuma’s private affairs and his affairs of state. The interests of Zuma as president may not be the same as a private citizen and this move would seem — at the very least — questionable. I don’t know how a lawyer would successfully fulfil that role either, as the interests of the client will not always be the same and should not be the same,” said De Vos on Thursday.
Several attempts to contact Hulley for comment proved unsuccessful.