Condemning the Scorpions’ raid on the office of the attorney of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, the General Council of the Bar of South Africa (GCB) on Friday called on them to return everything they had seized as soon as possible.
The raid appeared to violate the principle of attorney-client privilege, the GCB charged.
On Saturday SABC News reported that the Scorpions had returned Zuma’s hard drive, one of the items which was confiscated in the raid. National Prosecuting Austhority (NPA) spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the Scorpions had not confiscated any material belonging to Zuma.
The Scorpions, the investigative arm of the NPA, has been analysing documents and material taken from Zuma’s homes in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal homes during a raid on Thursday morning.
The NPA maintained that Thursday’s search-and-seizure operations were ”perfectly legal” and carried out on the strength of court orders granted by the Pretoria High Court.
Although it had noted media reports on the GCB’s stance, it would not respond until such time as the matter was formally brought to its attention, said NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi.
”The principle of attorney-client privilege or confidentiality is foundational to a fair system of criminal and civil justice,” the GCB said in a statement.
”Clients, including Mr Zuma, are entitled to communicate with their attorneys on a confidential basis even where they disclose the commission of an offence.
”Such privileged communication must be protected at all costs, failing which the whole of the administration of justice is under threat.”
Zuma’s homes in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal were searched by the Scorpions on Thursday for evidence for his pending corruption trial.
Raids were also carried out on the Durban home of Zuma’s former financial adviser Schabir Shaik, on the offices of his personal lawyer Julie Mahomed, and those of his attorney Michael Hulley.
The Scorpions also searched Tuynhuys in Cape Town, the Union Buildings in Pretoria, and several residences and offices in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, the Western Cape and Mpumalanga.
It was ”cold comfort” that attorney-client communication procured in the raid was not intended for use in subsequent or pending criminal proceedings, and would be kept sealed in an envelope with the registrar or the clerk of the court, the GCB said.
”It immediately raises more questions than it provides answers. For example, will the Scorpions decide what constitutes attorney-client communication, and on what basis? In such circumstances, the violation of the privilege is inevitable.”
The Congress of Trade Unions of SA (Cosatu), which congratulated the GCB on its ”heroic stance”, also came in for criticism by the Council, however, over its call on President Thabo Mbeki to discontinue Zuma’s trial and reinstate him.
Mbeki’s decision to relieve Zuma of his duties while his trial was pending ”speaks volumes for our government’s respect for the rule of law”.
It would be inappropriate to interfere with the judicial process, given the constitutional principles of the separation of powers, said the GCB.
Cosatu has slammed the Scorpions tactics as underhanded and a danger to the country’s democracy and criminal justice system. – Sapa