President Kgalema Motlanthe has not yet made a decision on who should replace axed National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli, his spokesperson said on Wednesday.
”There has been no decision yet,” Thabo Masebe said.
Meanwhile, Pikoli’s lawyer, Aslam Moosajee, was waiting for the legal processes to be complied with after he served papers on Motlanthe challenging his client’s dismissal last week.
At the same time, he is poised to launch an interdict on behalf of Pikoli if the president goes ahead and appoints someone else.
He also served papers on the speaker of the National Assembly and the chair of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), who managed the votes in Parliament to confirm Motlanthe’s decision to fire Pikoli.
Pikoli wants the president’s decision to be reviewed, set aside and declared invalid.
He lost his job after Motlanthe said an inquiry into his fitness to hold office found that he did not appreciate national security issues.
Advocate Mokotedi Mpshe is acting as prosecutions head for the division, which currently includes investigations against African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma and suspended police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in its caseload.
Pikoli maintains that he was suspended by former president Thabo Mbeki in September 2007 in a bid to stop the prosecution of Selebi for corruption.
But in a charged debate in the NCOP, ANC members argued that Motlanthe had no choice but to fire him for being insensitive to national security issues.
Khosi Mokoena, who co-chaired the ad hoc review committee, told the legislature that he was rightly dismissed for overruling Mbeki’s concerns that arresting Selebi could destabilise South Africa.
”Even after the president requested two weeks to make the necessary arrangements … advocate Pikoli refused and told the president he was giving him only seven days.
”This attitude shows a lack of respect for the president’s constitutional duty to maintain national security and stability,” he said.
”It will be in the best interest of the country and even of advocate Pikoli to remove him from the sensitive position of national director of public prosecutions.”
‘Pikoli must be reinstated’
The opposition protested that Pikoli’s integrity was beyond doubt and that he must be reinstated in line with the recommendations of the Ginwala inquiry, which found late last year that he was fit for office.
The Democratic Alliance’s Wilhelm le Roux said the ANC had been ”brutal” in their treatment of one of the party’s ”finest members”, while rewarding the unethical behaviour of members like Carl Niehaus, who has admitted to resorting to fraud to cover spiralling private debt.
During last year’s inquiry Pikoli had to answer for the lack of security accreditation for his officials tasked with searching Zuma’s office during investigations against him, and that he appeared to ignore a draft report alleging a coup to bring Zuma to power.
The prosecution authority’s entering into plea-bargain arrangements with people involved in organised crime was also queried.
Pikoli also had to defend the line of communication between himself and former justice minister Brigitte Mabandla during crucial investigations when he believed that, although he had kept her informed, constitutionally, he could work independently of her when deciding on prosecutions.
Among those who testified at the Ginwala inquiry were Presidency Director General Frank Chikane, Justice Ministry Director General Menzi Simelane, national intelligence Director General Manela Manzini and senior Scorpions prosecutor Gerrie Nel.
Neither Mbeki nor Mabandla testified, but their correspondence on the Selebi matter formed part of the submissions.
Upholding principles
Although Pikoli needs a salary to support himself and his family, this is not his motive for challenging his sacking, he said earlier this month.
”My motive instead is to vindicate the Constitution, the rule of law and particularly the principle of prosecutorial independence implicit in section 179(4) of the Constitution.
”I passionately believe in these principles and have sworn an oath of office to uphold them. I believe that this application is necessary to vindicate them because my removal from office violated the principle of prosecutorial independence, the rule of law and the Constitution.
”If I do not make a stand, these values would be severely damaged,” he argues. — Sapa, Reuters