Suspended prosecutions boss Vusi Pikoli was instructed by Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla, acting on President Thabo Mbeki’s orders, to cancel the Scorpions’s investigation of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Pikoli was told in a letter sent to him last September that he must cease the investigation and possible prosecution on corruption charges of the police boss.
‘Until I’m satisfied that it’s in the public interest, you will stop,†Mabandla wrote, according to a source close to former speaker of Parliament Frene Ginwala’s inquiry into Pikoli’s fitness to hold office.
Pikoli refused and wrote back to Mabandla that she might be guilty of obstructing justice. He was suspended by Mbeki four days later.
This letter, sources sympathetic to Pikoli believe, is the main reason Mbeki now wants Pikoli to accept a settlement offer from government that would see his suspension lifted and him quitting as national director of public prosecutions.
This letter and other ‘similar incidents†demonstrating Mbeki’s efforts to protect Selebi in the face of mounting evidence against him are seen by Pikoli’s backers as potentially causing ‘huge embarrassment†to Mbeki and Mabandla if made public at next week’s hearings into Pikoli’s conduct.
Ginwala’s inquiry is scheduled to start its public hearings at the Johannesburg municipal offices on Wednesday.
But last-ditch efforts to avert public disclosure of Pikoli’s version of events are still under way and might yet scupper the hearings.
Advocate Seth Nthai is leading a delegation from Mbeki and was said to be locked in talks with Pikoli this week in the hope of getting him to stand down voluntarily rather than to continue with the inquiry. If Pikoli accepts the offer, the Ginwala inquiry will effectively be over.
Since Thursday, it is understood, Pikoli has been seriously considering accepting an offer that would entail his resignation in return for being cleared by the government of any wrong-doing, a compromise he earlier vowed not to accept.
‘The pressure on him is tremendous. Some weeks ago he was adamant that he would under no circumstances make a deal with the state on his unfair dismissal. He was also adamant that he wanted to clear his name publicly,†said a person familiar with Pikoli’s thinking on the issue.
‘But now he is starting to change his tune, saying he is prepared to negotiate. It seems as though there’s a fundamental shift happening. They are playing on his sense of patriotism, asking him not to make waves at this stage.â€
Mbeki suspended Pikoli on September 23 last year after the NPA boss obtained a warrant for Selebi’s arrest. The warrant was then cancelled and a warrant to raid his home and office never acted upon.
After independent experts reviewed the case against Selebi, acting NPA boss Mokotedi Mpshe agreed that the case should go ahead, leading to charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice being formalised on February 1.
Although Mbeki has maintained that his suspension of Pikoli was unrelated to the Selebi case, the Mail & Guardian understands that Pikoli’s supporters believe it was a definite move to protect the police boss in the run-up to the ANC’s December national conference in Polokwane.
‘We can only speculate on this, but Vusi has been told by some people close to the president that he [Mbeki] believed he could take congress with him and win another term by suspending Pikoli and taking a large part of the Zuma camp with him.
‘He didn’t want to alienate Selebi and those close to him and even if he couldn’t ultimately protect him from prosecution, he was, after suspending Pikoli, going to be in a position where he could say: ‘I’ve tried my best.’â€
The M&G understands that Pikoli’s main accuser — Mabandla — will not be a witness in the Ginwala inquiry if proceedings go ahead. Her principal charge against him is the fact that Pikoli ‘didn’t keep her informed as to what he was doing which made her job impossibleâ€.
But, Mabandla’s name does not appear on the name of witnesses government proposes to call. Instead her Director General, Menzi Simelane, and other more junior officials are scheduled to testify against Pikoli.