Former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi is being tipped to take over as National Director of Public Prosecutions from Bulelani Ngcuka.
Two factors, however, may be obstacles to Ramatlhodi’s deployment to probably the most powerful job in the criminal justice system.
Senior government sources this week said an ”exit package” currently being negotiated with Ngcuka, first needs to be concluded. There is also a cloud hanging over Ramatlhodi involving corruption allegations.
Ironically, the allegations against Ramatlhodi are being probed by the same institution he is now supposed to head.
The Scorpions are investigating allegations that Ramatlhodi received irregular payments from a company involved in the province’s pensions and welfare grants payout contract. The probe was launched after the allegations against Ramatlhodi were published by investigative magazine noseweek.
Scorpions investigators who took part in the probe described it as ”top secret” and ”intelligence driven”. They say the probe initially hit a ”brick wall” after cane furniture king Habakuk Shikoane, one of the sources quoted in the noseweek story as confirming the allegations against Ramatlhodi, refused to cooperate and denied he had confirmed the allegations.
The investigators recommended that the probe be halted because of a lack of evidence, but they claim Ngcuka insisted that it be pursued.
The probe appears to be a key reason for Ramatlhodi’s exclusion from President Thabo Mbeki’s Cabinet. Before the Cabinet announcement last week, there was widespread speculation that the position of justice minister would go to Ramatlhodi. Instead, it went to former housing minister Brigitte Mabandla, also a qualified lawyer.
Mabandla’s appointment, and Ramatlhodi’s exclusion from Cabinet altogether came as a major surprise, as Mbeki had indicated earlier that Ramatlhodi would be elevated to a ministerial position.
Ramatlhodi has a legal background. He holds an LLB degree from the University of Lesotho, and practised as an advocate for a while. He represented many ANC leaders during the struggle against apartheid and joined the ANC’s underground structures in 1980 when he went into exile.
There, he worked at the side of former ANC president Oliver Tambo, as his political secretary. When Nelson Mandela took over the party presidency, he served him in the same capacity.
After Mbeki’s Cabinet announcement last week, ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama reportedly said that Ramatlhodi would either be deployed in the party’s top structures or in one of the Chapter 9 institutions, which include the offices of the auditor general, the public protector and others. Ngonyama also indicated that Ramotlhodi’s position would be equal to that of a Cabinet minister.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian this week, Ngonyama said the ruling party had yet to make up its mind. ”The party has not yet taken a decision about his deployment. But we are still discussing where he would be more effective,” he said.
Approached for comment, Ramatlhodi said he was not aware of any discussion to deploy him as National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head. But, he said: ”If that was to happen I think I would be approached at the right time. I believe that Ngcuka has a contract that still exists and I am deployed at the ANC headquarters.”
Ngcuka’s contract expires in 2008 but government sources told the M&G that the husband of Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was indeed negotiating an exit package.
Senior government officials said Ngcuka had demanded ”some sort of amnesty” as part of his conditions of exit. The ”amnesty” will apparently be to protect him from civil damages claims that may arise from his work with the NPA.
Asked whether he was negotiating an exit package, Ngcuka refused to comment. But, speaking through his spokesperson, Makhosini Nkosi, Ngcuka did say that had not applied for ”amnesty” as he ”has done nothing wrong and has nothing to fear”.
Ngcuka was appointed NPA head in 1998. Opposition parties opposed his appointment on the grounds that he was too involved in the ANC to exercise judicial independence.
He proved many of his critics wrong by first creating an efficient prosecuting authority and then pursuing high profile ANC figures for corruption. Among these were former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni and Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Ngcuka’s handling of the Zuma probe — by stating that there was prima facie evidence of corruption, but insufficient evidence to win the case in court — brought him in direct confrontation with leading ANC figures.