/ 13 December 2007

Selebi announcement to be made ‘this week’

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) still expects to make an announcement regarding its investigation of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi this week, NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Thursday.

”An announcement will be made this week but I can’t say if it will be today,” said Tlali.

In the meantime, the NPA is also hoping to have a meeting with the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla soon to discuss the situation regarding Selebi, he said.

Selebi has come under fire for his reported links with Glenn Agliotti who was recently convicted on drug trafficking charges in terms of a plea-bargain agreement which will see him testifying against people originally charged with him.

Selebi has said that the two are friends.

The phantom

On Wednesday, phantom sightings and rumours that he had been arrested and due to appear in court sparked a media frenzy at courts around Gauteng.

Selebi’s spokesperson, Sally de Beer, received two telephone calls from media organisations about his arrest on Tuesday afternoon and a couple on Tuesday evening. By Wednesday morning, she was inundated with telephone calls from journalists.

She said she received queries about whether Selebi was appearing in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court or the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.

Photographers, TV crews and journalists were camped outside Selebi’s Pretoria North home well before 6am on Wednesday, she said.

”I stopped off at his house [on Wednesday morning] and it was like paparazzi everywhere,” she said.

”It’s crazy and terribly invasive for his family.” – Sapa