DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Thursday
JUDGE Willem Heath’s resignation from the judiciary was accepted by cabinet on Wednesday, but the cabinet decision was communicated to him via the press, rather than directly. The decision leaves him without any pension after 13 years service as a judge.
Heath has headed the Special Investigating Unit, which probes public service corruption, for the past four years. Before that, he headed the Heath Commission, which played a similar role. Including his time with the two entities, he has been a judge for 13 years.
Heath has been forced to leave the unit, following a decision of the Constitutional Court to the effect that his participation in an investigative unit is not constitutional, as it violates the principle of the separation of executive and judicial powers. The court’s decision, made in November 2000, was suspended for a year to ensure the business of the unit is not disrupted.
Heath applied for a discharge from the judiciary in May 2001. When his discharge was refused, he resigned.
The Judicial Services Act distinguishes between a discharge and resignation. A discharge would mean that the outgoing party receives normal employee benefits, such as a pension. In the case of a resignation, however, the outgoing party receives no benefits whatsoever.
“I have still got a wife, and if anything should happen to me, she will be without a pension,” Heath told the DM&G on Thursday. He said he is now going to be entirely dependent on the success of his plans to enter private sector investigative work.
Even if his discharge had been accepted, Heath said, he would not have been eligible for a pension equal to the pay of a judge in full employment.
Heath issued a stinging statement on Thursday, criticising the cabinet’s announcement of its acceptance of his resignation through the press: “I find it insulting that such a revelation should be made public before either my attorney’s or myself are officially informed.”
Heath’s attorneys have written to President Thabo Mbeki, criticising his decision in caustic language: “It is our respectful submission that your decision was based on considerations and motivations which we, as the Judge’s legal advisors, believe to be grossly irregular, judicially unjustifiable and an irrational exercise of administrative action”.
The judge has reserved his rights with respect to perhaps mounting a legal challenge to the president’s decision, but acknowledges that it is a new and potentially tricky area of law.
He says the letter from Mbeki refusing his discharge did not give full reasons for denying it to him. He estimates that over the last four years, the Heath unit has saved around R4-billion for the state, but warns that this is an estimate, and that more precise figures should soon be released. – Daily Mail & Guardian
ZA*NOW:
Get back to your bench, Mbeki tells Heath May 20, 2001
Heath denies chasing ‘golden handshake’ May 8, 2001
Heath hangs up his robes May 8, 2001
Heath sounds like the opposition April 5, 2001
Corruption governs South Africa: Heath April 4, 2001
Graft hotline pelted with rotten apples March 20, 2001
Death threats, state raids in free SA January 21, 2001
Irate Mbeki censures Heath on TV January 20, 2001
ANC steps up its anti-Heath vendetta January 16, 2001
FEATURES:
Keep the Heath unit, say analysts March 13, 2001
How do we fight corruption? March 12, 2001
Incompetence rules … February 13, 2001
Why did the auditor general change his mind about Heath? January 19, 2001