Acting National Prosecuting Authority boss Mokotedi Mpshe and Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy will not oppose an application by a Johannesburg businessman to stop the Scorpions from being closed down.
The Mail & Guardian has seen the notice to abide, filed by the state attorney on March 25 on behalf of Mpshe and McCarthy. This means that they will not oppose the application and will abide by the ruling of a Pretoria High Court judge to hear the matter on May 6.
Businessman Bob Glenister last month served court papers on President Thabo Mbeki, Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla and Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to inform them of his intended application to prevent any legislation from being effected that will disband the Scorpions.
All three indicated that they would oppose the application.
The state’s law advisers have already started drafting amendments to the legislation to take forward the ANC’s resolution that the Scorpions be incorporated into the South African Police Service by June this year.
The decision by Mpshe and McCarthy not to oppose Glenister’s application is not unexpected. Glenister’s move largely targets Mbeki and the two ministers who have the power to amend legislation.
It is, however, significant that Mpshe is not willing to support his political boss [Mabandla] or the president in their opposition to the application, which argues that government’s sole reason for shutting down the Scorpions is to protect ANC members from prosecution.
It has also emerged that former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein supports the application. An affidavit by him, in which he quotes from his book, After the Party, is attached to Glenister’s court papers.
In it Feinstein elaborates on the ANC’s handling of the arms deal investigation and repeats the allegation that the ruling party might have benefited from the transaction.
‘At the outset, I state that the culture of the ANC is one of it being implicitly accepted that one does not talk publicly about what happens inside the organisation, especially if what is happening is controversial or at odds with the ANC party line. My preparedness to depose to this affidavit arises from the decision to be completely open about my experiences within the ANC because I believe that it is in the best interest of the Republic of South Africa,†Feinstein writes.
He further elaborates on his reason for resigning from the ANC. ‘The reason for my resignation was the ANC leadership’s refusal to allow an unfettered, comprehensive investigation into the multibillion-rand arms deal that was tainted by allegations of high-level corruption.
‘This decision by the leadership and the subsequent deception and crushing of dissent marked the arrival of tawdry politics within the ANC and South Africa, politics characterised by an autocratic leadership giving precedence to the interests of a political party and personal power over those of the country as a whole,†Feinstein wrote.
Mbeki, Mabandla and Nqakula are to file their opposing affidavits by April 14.