The National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) on Friday said it will appeal a Johannesburg High Court judgement that found that it unlawfully obtained and executed search warrants.
The court found that an August raid of the offices and home of former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s former attorney Julekha Mahomed was unlawful.
Judge Ismail Hussein ordered that documents, files and other objects seized during the raids be returned to Mahomed.
NDPP spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the judgement will be studied carefully and its impact assessed before making further comment.
He again stressed that the NDPP acted within the law when it obtained and executed the warrants.
”We reiterate that the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] did its utmost to act within the law and in good faith at all times in obtaining the warrants, and conducting the searches,” Nkosi said.
The directorate welcomed a finding by Hussein that it did not act negligently or vexatiously. On the basis of this, he did not award a punitive costs order against the NDPP.
Ruling ‘vindicates’ Cosatu’s stance
The ruling in favour of Mahomed vindicates calls for charges against Zuma to be withdrawn, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Friday.
”This totally vindicates the decisions of Cosatu that Zuma cannot possibly have a fair trial,” spokesperson Paul Notyhawa said. ”For this reason, the central committee demanded that charges against Zuma be withdrawn and that he be reinstated.”
Cosatu demanded that the Scorpions ”immediately comply” with Hussain’s order that all the documents and files seized from Mahomed’s premises be returned to her.
Notyhawa said the way in which the NPA has conducted itself in the past five years ”leaves much to be desired”.
”They have long undermined the rule of law by leaking information to the media as a deliberate strategy to run a trial through the media and convict Jacob Zuma in the court of public opinion.
”The then head of the NPA even convened an off-the-record briefing with newspaper editors as part of this strategy.”
He said returning the documents and files to Mahomed could be ”a purely academic exercise” because the NPA could already have copied all the information.
”The chance of a fair trial has now diminished even further. The NPA may even have obtained confidential information that Zuma planned to use in his defence. Even if it returns the documents, as ordered, it may have copied the information.”
Cosatu said it is clear that the NPA and the Scorpions have become a threat to the rule of law in the country.
The Democratic Alliance said it will be ”very unfortunate” if the judgement negatively affects the Zuma case.
Spokesperson Sheila Camerer said in a statement the judgement is a ”hard lesson” for the Scorpions.
She said it is evident that the correct procedures were not followed in obtaining and executing the warrants.
”This is particularly embarrassing for the president in view of the fact that his proposed commission on Cosatu’s conspiracy theories around the Zuma case is currently before the ANC’s national executive committee.”
Former head of Scorpions to be charged
Meanwhile, a Pietermaritzburg magistrate is trying to force the state to act on criminal charges he instituted against former head of the NDPP Bulelani Ngcuka, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.
Magistrate Ashwin Singh lodged papers with the Pietermaritzburg High Court to force the state to act on charges he filed against Ngcuka and the chief prosecutor in the Schabir Shaik trial, advocate Billy Downer, in November 2003.
Singh has accused the two men of abuse of power and defeating the ends of justice.
It has been 20 months since the police completed their investigations.
Singh’s attorneys said if the NPA decides not to prosecute, they will pursue the route of private prosecution against the Scorpions.
This comes after Downer’s failed prosecution of Singh.
Singh instituted criminal investigation procedures against Ngcuka — and other top NPA top officials, including Downer — immediately after his prosecution was stayed.
He was dismissed from the Scorpions and charged with defeating the ends of justice in connection with his probe into violence in Richmond in KwaZulu-Natal in 1999.
Singh was part of the team that investigated two massacres at the height of the violence in Richmond in 1998 and 1999. He was reportedly accused of a number of crimes, including deliberately withholding information about the massacres from his unit.
However, the magistrate reportedly complained about the way the Scorpions conducted themselves when investigating him. — Sapa