The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday accused Director General in the Presidency Frank Chikane of concealing information and deliberately trying to mislead opposition parties.
DA parliamentary leader Sandra Botha said she had written to Speaker Baleka Mbete, asking her to investigate whether Chikane ”misled opposition party leaders” during a briefing last month on President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to suspend National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli.
On September 25, Chikane had invited opposition party leaders to a briefing on the controversial decision to suspend the national director of public prosecutions.
At the briefing, Chikane had repeated the publicly stated reason for Pikoli’s suspension — that it had happened due to a breakdown in the relationship between Pikoli and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla.
No mention had been made at any stage of the various warrants that had been issued in relation to police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
”I firmly believe this to constitute a material omission of fact, which can only be viewed as a deliberate attempt by the most senior official in the Presidency to mislead the leaders of opposition parties represented in Parliament.
”The warrants in question were issued more than two weeks before the briefing took place [as confirmed by the National Prosecuting Authority], and there is therefore little reason to believe that Reverend Chikane was unaware of their existence.”
Botha said the only reasonable conclusion that could be drawn was Chikane ”deliberately concealed information from the people’s elected representatives”, and he should now be made to account for his actions.
In her letter to Mbete, she asked the speaker to convene an ad-hoc committee to investigate the matter.
”If they [opposition party leaders] were deliberately misled, the speaker has a duty to stand up for them and exert the authority of the national legislature,” Botha said.
On Sunday, DA leader Helen Zille requested urgent talks with Mbeki over his suspension of Pikoli. — Sapa