Opposition parties have called for the immediate suspension of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, in light of his failure to prevent the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) from prosecuting him.
Selebi’s urgent application was denied in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday.
Judge Nico Coetzee said the application bore no merit and it was struck off the roll. He said that the administration of justice would be brought into disrepute if Selebi was not prosecuted.
President Thabo Mbeki will address the media on Saturday regarding the Selebi matter.
Mbeki is expected to hold a press conference at the Union Building in Pretoria at 3pm.
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) came out in support of the court’s decision, saying that it was a “significant victory for the rule of law”.
The party’s justice spokesperson Frik van Heerden said it was an “irony” that Selebi had “dared” to approach the court to prevent his own arrest and prosecution.
This, only a few days after a task force of more than 20 police officers arrested “respected” Gauteng Scorpions head Gerrie Nel.
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) called on Mbeki to suspend Selebi immediately.
“This action is not only crucial in light of the high rate of crime in South Africa and the implications for SAPS [South African Police Service] morale; the matter of Selebi’s suspension and fitness is of world interest,” said ACDP spokesperson Kenneth Meshoe.
“It is an embarrassment with the commissioner being the present head of Interpol and with the world spotlight being upon security in light of [the Soccer World Cup in] 2010,” he said.
The DA said silence on the part of both Mbeki and Charles Nqakula, the Minister of Safety and Security, in relation to Selebi’s application, had been “deafening”.
DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said: “The NPA’s refusal to bow down before political heavyweights restores the public’s faith in the impartiality of the criminal justice system.”
The leader of the Independent Democrats, Patricia de Lille, said: “I am satisfied that the NPA has finally made public their decision to charge the national commissioner.
“It is just unfortunate that it has taken a court challenge such as this for the NPA to make their decision known to the public.”
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said the NPA’s decision to charge Selebi vindicated suspended NPA head Vusi Pikoli. “This is egg on the face of the government, because they intervened in a decision by an independent institution … and they messed up the whole thing,” he said.
“I hope they’ve learned a lesson. And now I don’t see any reason why they can’t reinstate Pikoli and stop that nonsense of Ginwala,” he said.
He was referring to the inquiry ordered by Mbeki and headed by former parliamentary speaker Frene Ginwala into Pikoli’s fitness to hold office. Pikoli was suspended last year after it emerged that the NPA had obtained a warrant for Selebi’s arrest.
Court date
In an answering affidavit to Selebi’s application to stop the NPA from charging him, acting national director of public prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe said the NPA was not planning to arrest Selebi.
“I have undertaken that if he is to be charged, he will not be arrested and an arrangement will be reached with his attorney for a date on which he has to appear in court,” Mpshe said in the papers.
Mpshe said the charges against the police chief relate to Selebi’s relationship with murder accused Glenn Agliotti and payments by Agliotti of more than R1,2-million to Selebi in 2004 and 2005.
The charges are based on Selebi turning a blind eye to Agliotti’s involvement in transporting a large quantity of Mandrax, interventions Selebi made on behalf of Agliotti and confidential intelligence reports released from British authorities relating to drug-trafficking activities of Agliotti.
The NPA said Selebi tipped Agliotti off that he had been identified in the course of the Brett Kebble murder investigation.