Former transport minister Mac Maharaj and ex-African National Congress intelligence operative Mo Shaik have welcomed the release and content of the Hefer Commission of Inquiry’s report regarding allegations that national prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka might have been an apartheid spy.
”I speak for Mo. We welcome the report of Justice [Joos] Hefer and it provides a basis for all parties to self-reflection,” attorney Yunis Shaik said.
”We hope that all parties will respect the findings made by the judge and that it will bring closure to the matter.”
Shaik indicated that his brother and Maharaj were still studying the full report and would later comment in greater detail.
Maharaj was not immediately available for comment, but told public radio that he was glad retired appellate judge Hefer’s report mentioned, what he termed, the misuse of power by Ngcuka’s office.
Hefer did not make a finding on claims that Ngcuka had abused his official powers, saying he had been precluded from doing so by the commission’s terms of reference.
But he said it was clear there had been leaks from the prosecuting authority about an ongoing criminal investigation into Maharaj and his wife’s finances.
”Such a state of affairs cannot be tolerated,” Hefer’s report states.
In a letter to the judge, President Thabo Mbeki accepted his main findings and said the information leak would be ”followed up”.
Earlier in the day, the South African Council of Churches said the commission’s finding that Ngcuka had probably never been an apartheid spy was a landmark for democracy.
”The appointment of the commission and the transparent way in which it carried out its mandate have contributed significantly to the consolidation of our young democracy,” it said in a statement.
The commission’s report, released on Tuesday, demonstrated that South Africa was becoming an ever-stronger and more politically mature nation, the council added.
”Regrettably, as with any public inquiry of this nature, some individuals may have been hurt by the process.
”The council expressed its concern and sympathy for such individuals and its hope that they will ultimately see the inquiry as part of a larger national healing process.”
The Inkatha Freedom Party said question marks remained hanging over the conduct of Deputy President Jacob Zuma in the matter, and that of Ngcuka’s main accusers.
Maharaj and Shaik should shoulder the blame for the ”waste” of taxpayers’ money their ”irresponsible” allegations brought about, IFP MP Koos van der Merwe said in a statement.
”Having made irresponsible statements, which have damaged the reputation of a constitutional institution, the [National] Directorate of Public Prosecutions as well as the integrity of the incumbent director of public prosecutions, the country would expect decisive action against Messrs Shaik and Maharaj, whether civil or criminal,” he added.
Regarding Zuma, Van der Merwe said the deputy president had an opportunity to air his case before the commission.
”However, Mr Zuma’s reluctance to use this opportunity and his implied threat to disobey a subpoena, simply added more question marks about his conduct.”
The allegations against Ngcuka first surfaced in a City Press report last September. It turned out to have been based on a probe done by ANC intelligence structures in 1989 and 1990, which found he may have been a police spy, Agent RS452.
The ANC investigation was led by Shaik, now an adviser to Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The commission report was critical of Maharaj and Shaik’s evidence to the commission, describing it as most unconvincing. Their allegations had been ”ill-conceived and entirely unsubstantiated”, Hefer found.
Hefer criticised Zuma for threatening to ignore the subpoena to testify before the commission.
Ngcuka announced last year that Zuma would not be prosecuted despite prima facie evidence of wrongdoing on his part in connection with the government’s multibillion-rand arms acquisition deal.
Ngcuka and the ANC have welcomed the commission’s findings, but most opposition parties described the probe as a waste of time and money. — Sapa