National Director of Public Prosecutions Menzi Simelane admits that he interfered in the decision to grant musician Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye bail in his murder case, but says the interference was a “necessary requirement” to prevent community pressure from deciding the issue.
In a long letter to the Mail & Guardian, Simelane also implicitly denies giving Maarohanye a soft ride, emphasising that he himself had played a role in stiffening the charges against the musician and his co-accused, Themba Tshabalala, from culpable homicide to murder.
Maarohanye faces charges of murder, reckless driving and driving under the influence, in connection with a car accident in Soweto on March 8 that ended in the death of four schoolboys and critical injuries to two others. Maarohanye and his co-accused were allegedly dicing in their Mini Coopers in Soweto when the accident occurred.
Both tested positive for morphine and cocaine. Two weeks ago they were each granted R10 000 bail.
Simelane has come under attack for demoting the chief state prosecutor of the West Rand, André Lamprecht, who led the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) team that opposed Maarohanye’s bail.
It has been alleged that Lamprecht was reassigned because he disregarded Simelane’s instructions not to oppose bail.
Adding to the suspicion was ANC Youth League president Julius Malema’s visit to Maarohanye in detention. This has been seen as a way of lending political support to the hip-hop artist, who participated in the ruling party’s election campaigns.
Cosatu said this week it supported the Public Servants’ Association (PSA), which has declared a dispute over Lamprecht’s demotion and has referred the matter to the public service bargaining council.
The federation said that it agreed with PSA official Manie de Clercq that the NPA’s contention that Lamprecht was merely redeployed is nonsense. It also said that it is strange that his redeployment had happened on the same day that he refused to obey the NPA’s instruction.
No good legal grounds
In his letter to the M&G, Simelane says that he advised Gladstone Maema, acting director of public prosecutions in Gauteng, that the NPA should not oppose bail because he believed there were no “good legal grounds” for opposing it.
“It is not generally accepted that bail can be opposed solely on the ground that the community threatens the accused person. It is an important factor for consideration, but on its own, it never succeeds,” he said.
He said the major reason for opposing bail was the risk of the accused person absconding.
Simelane insisted that the prosecutors also did not want to oppose bail, but felt pressured by angry members of the community who protested outside court.
He continued: “I am worried when the proper administration of justice is held to ransom by external pressures, such that prosecutors do not make decisions because they truly believe in the strength of the legal argument, but for other considerations.”
Simelane said that he had become involved in the case immediately after he had heard about it on radio, to ensure that the NPA’s tough new policy on deaths resulting from the violation of traffic laws was applied.
The NPA’s new approach was to charge negligent drivers responsible for deaths in accidents with murder, rather than culpable homicide. This was in line with the law, but was not the usual practice.
“As the NDPP I take personal responsibility for every prosecution undertaken with the courts of this country and I must ensure that the Constitution and other laws of this country are complied with,” he said.
In the letter Simelane denied speaking to Lamprecht about Maarohanye’s case, saying he had communicated his message to the chief state prosecutor through Maema.
It was Maema who informed Lamprecht about his reassignment as a prosecutor.
Other factors that Simelane said he had taken into account in assessing bail for Maarohanye were:
- The Protea Magistrate’s Court, Soweto’s busiest, could not function because of the protests outside, making it difficult for other cases to be heard.
- He wanted to minimise schooling disruptions by granting bail on the first day of the hearing.
- He did not want the justice system to “pander” to personal preferences and the “supremacist ideologies” of some individuals, including some prosecutors.