Comments by acting prosecutions head Mokotedi Mpshe on Thursday suggest that Jacob Zuma’s ascension to the ANC’s highest post has not diminished the appetite of the National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) to charge him.
Referring to corruption and related offences investigated against Zuma, Mpshe told Talk Radio 702: ‘The investigation is complete. All that we are doing is tying the loose ends. The investigation with the evidence we have now points to a case that can be taken to court.â€
Asked if prosecution was imminent, he said: ‘I should say so.â€
Mpshe’s comments follow similar comments in an affidavit the NPA filed last week in the Constitutional Court. The affidavit was in response to renewed attempts by Zuma’s legal team to deprive the NPA of documentation it gathered in a number of controversial raids on Zuma and his associates locally and from similar action conducted by authorities in Mauritius.
In the affidavit Scorpions investigator Johan du Plooy said the disputed documents, new investigations and a re-examination of evidence already gathered for the successful prosecution of Zuma’s financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, ‘provide a firm basis for the institution of a prosecutionâ€.
He said: ‘The extent and gravity of the charges has grown when compared with the two charges of corruption and the fraud charge — on which Mr Shaik was convicted.â€
Whereas Shaik was convicted of making corrupt payments of R1,25-million to Zuma until September 2002, the new documents ‘have revealed that the alleged corrupt payments continued to at least June 2005â€, said Du Plooy, and totalled R4,07-million.
He said they also showed Zuma ‘fraudulently failed to declare†this income to the revenue service, Parliament and the Cabinet secretary. Whereas the Shaik trial dealt with four instances, showing that Zuma reciprocated Shaik’s largesse by helping him, his Nkobi group and French arms manufacturer Thint, ‘there are now some 28 instances which tend to show such assistanceâ€.
A judicial source said on Thursday that the NPA was taken by surprise by Mpshe’s comments on Radio 702 because investigators finalised their submissions to him some time ago.
But it appears the closure of the ANC conference on Thursday unties the NPA’s hands not only in Zuma’s case, but also in charges likely to be brought against national police commissioner Jackie Selebi after a review panel, appointed by Mpshe, concurred he has a case to answer.
The NPA said in a statement on Sunday that it had taken its decision on whether to charge Selebi, but that it was waiting for Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla to be ‘properly and sufficiently familiar†with the contents of a report submitted to her on the matter.
Mabandla, who was at the ANC conference, was quoted saying that she had not had the time. Her spokesperson, Zolile Nqayi, denied on Thursday that the minister would have to give a go-ahead in either case. He said the report was ‘just for her to understand what’s going onâ€.