Pikoli purge loses steam

Government’s fiery bid to get rid of suspended prosecutions chief Vusi Pikoli is slowly losing steam, with indications that a shutdown of Frene Ginwala’s inquiry might be on the cards.

President Thabo Mbeki suspended Pikoli four months ago pending an inquiry into his ‘fitness to hold office”. This includes establishing whether Pikoli caused a breakdown in the relationship between himself and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla.

This week Pikoli launched a scathing attack on government’s handling of the matter after the state attorney requested Ginwala to extend the deadline for government’s submissions to January 31.

This was after Ginwala issued a timetable on December 11 instructing the government to file its supplementary submission by January 15.

In a letter addressed by Pikoli’s lawyer to Ginwala and copied to the state attorney, Pikoli called on the government this week to withdraw his suspension, drop the charges against him and stop the inquiry.

‘Government is acting in bad faith and, in truth, it does not have a case of substance against our client which can be amplified in supplementary submissions,” the letter read.

‘The process is now being unduly delayed as a result of government’s delinquency. Our client’s fundamental rights are being violated by virtue of these delays.” Pikoli’s lawyer, Aslam Moosajee, called the letter ‘a desperate attempt to bring government back into line”.

Justice and Constitutional Development Department spokesperson Zolile Nqayi confirmed this week that Mabandla’s supplementary submission was indeed filed with Ginwala on Wednesday — one day after the original deadline.

‘Because of the festive season break some of the key people to the process of drafting the submission were not available until this week. We therefore thought we will not be able to meet the Tuesday deadline,” Nqayi said.

It is not yet clear what Mabandla’s second submission says, but it was suggested this week that she was advised by senior staff in her department that her submissions would not stand up to scrutiny by Ginwala’s and Pikoli’s legal advisers and that the inquiry should be dropped.

Although not able to confirm this independently, the Mail & Guardian was told that Mabandla had informed Mbeki of this advice and recommended to him that Pikoli should be reinstated to avoid further embarrassment.

Nqayi said he was not aware of the ‘advice” given to Mabandla and had not heard of the minister’s recommendation to Mbeki. ‘We have filed our submission with the inquiry and that’s all I can say about it.”

Mbeki’s legal adviser, Mojanku Gumbi, said that there was ‘absolutely” no such discussion between Mabandla and Mbeki and that the government’s case against Pikoli was on track.

A senior justice department source told the M&G this week that Mbeki and Mabandla ‘can’t afford for Pikoli to hand up documents or for the inquiry to be an open hearing”. The source said the government had pinned its hopes on Pikoli resigning and the matter disappearing.

However, Pikoli decided to fight and will presumably expose government’s lies in his submission.

In her first submission, on October 18 2007, Mabandla provided the inquiry with 11 examples of Pikoli allegedly making wrong decisions to prosecute or enter into plea bargains with suspects. This included the plea agreement with former Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok and his co-accused, former police boss Johan van der Merwe.

The government also complained about the decision to charge the Equatorial Guinea coup plotters when they returned to South Africa. The court acquitted the accused and Pikoli was blamed for tarnishing the image of other government agencies.

In his letter to Ginwala Pikoli described the October 18 submission as ‘wholly inadequate”. Moosajee said that it was unclear who made the accusations and that the affidavits were not signed under oath.

The M&G understands that a number of senior NPA staff have made affidavits in support of Pikoli’s submission, which would refute government’s complaints. The deadline for Pikoli’s replying submission is January 31.

It also emerged that Mabandla was questioned about the Pikoli matter at the first meeting of the ANC’s newly elected national executive committee (NEC) on January 7. However, sources the M&G spoke to differed on the intensity of the questioning.

Some described it as a ‘grilling”, saying Mabandla struggled to answer some of the hard questions. Others said the purpose of the session was purely to clarify issues and part of the induction of new NEC members.

‘There was nothing about her being pushed to explain herself. She was providing us with information and people asked clarifying questions. There was no grilling and no putting her on the spot. This is an NEC meeting, not a court of law,” an NEC source said.