The hearings into suspended National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) chief Vusi Pikoli’s fitness to hold office will continue on Tuesday after an exhaustive day of testimony and cross-examination on Friday pushed it over time.
State advocate Seth Nthai intends completing his cross-examination of Pikoli on his office’s plea bargaining, which the government contends was done without regard to national safety.
Pikoli on Friday denied ever being disrespectful to Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla.
”There was never an intention to be disrespectful to the minister and there was no disrespect shown to the minister,” he told the Ginwala inquiry in Johannesburg, held to determine his fitness to hold office.
”To do what the law tells me to do, how can this be disrespectful of the minister?” he asked.
One of the reasons given for his suspension on September 23 last year was a breakdown in relations with Mabandla. He believed it was because of the NPA’s investigation into police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Plea bargaining
An exhaustive session of questioning on technical aspects of the relationship between the NPA and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development was livened up when advocate Seth Nthai took over from advocate Kgomotso Moroka to lead evidence on plea bargaining.
Pikoli had been accused of allowing plea bargaining without regard for security.
At first, Pikoli’s advocate Wim Trengove objected to him being examined by two advocates.
When Nthai produced a large lever-arch file for his cross-examination, chairperson Frene Ginwala also objected, asking how they would get through it in the time remaining for the inquiry.
Laughter broke the otherwise sober atmosphere as Nthai, in a booming voice, rolled off the names of the documents, saying he did not plan to ambush Pikoli, who laughed at Nthai’s delivery. A sharp nudge in the ribs from Moroka set proceedings back on course.
Nthai then began by saying that although Pikoli had a legal qualification, he had no court experience and no direct experience of plea bargaining.
”I am not saying you are not fit to hold office, but your lack of practical experience and knowledge of how the courts work is a limitation.”
Pikoli replied: ”As a national director I’m not required to practise, to prosecute.”
He defended the drug offence-related plea-bargain agreement made with Clinton Nassif on a drug-related charge in exchange for testimony on the Brett Kebble murder.
The inquiry was told that without Nassif’s cooperation, it would not have been possible to arrest Glenn Agliotti for Kebble’s murder. ”Therefore, taking the totality of issues here, one has no quibble with this,” he said.
Although he was not personally involved in plea-bargain negotiations, they were ultimately his responsibility ”at the apex” of the NPA. However, the agreements only came into force when accepted by a court.
Pikoli said a lot of crime is interlinked — with, for example, funds from drug deals used to purchase arms. ”You have to look at the nature of the circumstances,” he said.
No order from Mbeki
Earlier on Friday, Pikoli told the inquiry that President Thabo Mbeki never ordered him to stop the prosecution of Selebi. ”The president never said to me that I must stop the prosecution of Mr Selebi,” he said.
However, Pikoli said that events and activities at the time of his suspension as national director of public prosecutions support his belief that the Selebi prosecution was the real reason for his suspension.
”You cannot dispute the attempted concealment of executive interference into this matter immediately prior to my suspension, which is not consistent with all the interaction I have had,” he said.
He had informed Mbeki that he had secured warrants against Selebi on September 11 2007 after a long period of interaction about the Selebi investigation, and then telling Mbeki that Selebi had been added as a suspect.
Pikoli said that although none of the correspondence between himself, Mabandla and Mbeki had mentioned the word ”arrest”, it was clear that this was where the investigation into the police chief might go.
”The DSO [Directorate of Special Operations] does not investigate for the sake of investigating. It boggles the mind to think that this was just an exercise that would go nowhere,” he said of the accusation that he had never informed Mbeki of his intention to arrest Selebi.
Pikoli maintains that the National Prosecuting Authority is an independent body and does not need permission from the executive to carry out its duties. — Sapa