Mungo Soggot
For a man who cut his judicial teeth in one of apartheid’s most notoriously corrupt enclaves, the former homeland of the Ciskei, Judge Willem Heath is an unlikely champion of clean governance. But his experience in the homeland – where he notched up a series of independent-minded judgments against the repressive regime – appears to have provided him a baptism of fire in dealing with corruption. In two years he and his investigative team, which started out in the Eastern Cape, have developed a reputation for being the most effective corruption watchdog in South Africa.
Judge Heath’s detractors mutter that the Heath investigative unit’s prominence and respectability have been achieved with a heavy dose of bluster. It is said Judge Heath has used his public relations skill to give his unit a profile in the press that is in advance of its true achievements – standard practice in most parts of the world, but rare in a country where the art of the spin is in its infancy.
“I think our support in the media and among the public is so strong that they would find it very difficult to close us down,” Judge Heath declared at the beginning of the year.
He appears to have had a sense of what was coming. Since then he has clashed with Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, who accused the judge of inflating his successes. The auditor general provided a diplomatic solution to the confrontation, saying Judge Heath and Manuel had been applying different accounting standards.
More recently, Judge Heath has come up against the new Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Penuell Maduna, who in a confusing array of statements has hinted at the possibility of shutting down the unit, or confining its activities to the Eastern Cape. Maduna has tried to clarify what has widely been perceived as an attack by saying, among other things, that the Act which set up the Heath unit did not envisage one permanent squad.
It has been suggested that if Judge Heath is eventually confined to the Eastern Cape, other judges will be deployed around the country to do similar work.
Maduna has created the impression that some in the government would be happy to see Judge Heath go – an impression that even prompted Nelson Mandela to publicly offer his support for Judge Heath and his work last week.
Maduna’s comments have created the impression that the Heath unit is a one-man show. In fact, it comprises 55 investigators and nine lawyers. The body is believed to be unique to government in any part of the world – a dedicated squad of lawyers, auditors, accountants and special investigators armed with formidable powers.
Judge Heath has borne criticism for being too gung-ho. His most striking error to date was his decision to issue summons against former minister of health Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for her involvement in the Sarafina debacle. Judge Heath subsequently had to withdraw the charges against Dlamini-Zuma, and focused instead on three of the minister’s senior civil servants.
The irony is that while Judge Heath is derided as a self-publicist, his aggressive, “untouchable” image is important when it comes to perceptions of South Africa abroad.