It’s a done deal. Former justice director general Menzi Simelane has been appointed national director of public prosecutions.
The Presidency said Simelane’s experience as the administrative head of the Justice Department and in the legal fraternity “provides him with the necessary skills and capacity to perform his functions efficiently and effectively”.
This, however, looks past the fact the Simelane asked senior members of the NPA to spy on their boss, Vusi Pikoli.
Pikoli was suspended by President Thabo Mbeki last year on the grounds of a breakdown of trust between the NPA head and Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla.
Simelane became so involved in the NPA’s business that Pikoli took the unusual step of complaining to Mabandla about her DG’s behaviour.
Frene Ginwala, who headed up the Ginwala inquiry into Pikoli’s fitness for office, severely criticised Simelane in her final report, calling him arrogant and condescending towards Pikoli.
Ginwala labelled his evidence before the inquiry “contradictory and without basis in fact or in law” and blamed him for suppressing the disclosure of information. This specifically referred to a legal opinion advising Simelane that he did not have authority over the NPA, as he had claimed.
Opposition parties also expressed reservations, with Democratic Alliance spokesperson on justice Dene Smuts saying she was “shocked” at the appointment, as was Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille.
“It is difficult to imagine a more inappropriate choice,” Smuts said.
De Lille was shocked that President Jacob Zuma could appoint someone “accused by Frene Ginwala’s panel of deceiving Brigitte Mabandla, his former boss and justice minister, and of interfering with the NPA’s independence”.
Given his past record, it does not augur well for the agency, and it remains to be seen whether Simelane can placate his critics.
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
 Tokyo Sexwale
A total of 923 government officials have been brought to book by the Human Settlement Department’s crackdown on corruption. Sexwale said his department was not just “mouthing slogans”, but “giving teeth” to its drive to root out corruption.
|
 Donovan Moodley
Moodley has failed in his bid to overturn his life sentence for the murder of student Leigh Matthews. Leigh’s father, Rob Matthews, said he was delighted at the ruling and hoped Moodley spent his life behind bars. |
Most-read stories
November 19 to 25 2009
1. Prisons graft: Bosasa’s empire of influence
The company at the centre of South Africa’s prison corruption scandal is closely connected to powerful individuals on the political landscape, including the country’s new spy boss, Gibson Njenje.
2. Revealed on video: Motata and Mbeki at the bar
The grainy surveillance footage picks out Thabo Mbeki at the bar. The former South African president appears pensive. At his elbow, just out of the frame, another man pours himself a glass of red wine.
3. Confessions of a racist
Did you know I’m a racist? It’s true. A commenter on my last column told me so.
4. ‘What Freedom Charter are they reading?’ asks Irvin Jim
New faces of militancy in Cosatu have emerged following the expulsion of Willie Madisha from Cosatu, the quiet retreat of its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi from the forefront, and the changing nature of the relationship between trade union federation and Cosatu.
5. Bright light over Johannesburg: Meteor or prawns?
The “greenish, bluish” light over Johannesburg on Saturday night was almost certainly a meteor, an astronomer said on Sunday.
6. Mantashe takes tough line on left
Matuma Letsoalo spoke to the ANC secretary general about what came out of the tripartite alliance summit last weekend.
7. Celebrities lead charge against Scientology
The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the John Joseph Moakley courthouse on Boston’s waterfront was unusually tight.
8. Rautenbach’s fast and furious ride to riches
Muller Conrad “Billy” Rautenbach, born on September 23 1959, is a controversial Zimbabwean businessman who has parlayed his closeness to the Zanu-PF government into a personal fortune and an aura of untouchability — despite being a fugitive for a decade.
9. Mercenary tells of torture in Black Beach prison
A gun was placed to his head and he was threatened with death by an adviser to Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, mercenary Nick du Toit has told Rapport.
10. Crunch time for Zim talks
Zimbabwe’s feuding parties will meet over the weekend to thrash out a compromise, with the first deadline imposed by the region to resolve the remaining issues likely to be missed.