Opposition parties have welcomed the 15-year jail sentence handed down to former police national commissioner Jackie Selebi on Tuesday.
Selebi was found guilty on charges of corruption for accepting money from convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti while he was the chief of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and president of Interpol.
During investigations into Agliotti, Selebi called him his “friend, finish and klaar“.
While all parties welcomed the sentence, with the main opposition Democratic Alliance saying the sentence was a “rare instance of justice”, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) said the case would never have ended in a successful prosecution had the SAPS investigated it.
“In light of attempts by the SAPS to intimidate the prosecutor, advocate Gerrie Nel, it is unlikely that this case would have been successfully investigated had it been left to the SAPS,” said ACDP president Kenneth Meshoe.
Nel was head of the investigating team of the now disbanded anti-corruption unit, the Scorpions. The highly successful unit was closed down in 2008.
“This sentence is thus justified, even though he [Selebi] is in his 60s,” said Meshoe.
In the same vein, AfriForum praised the disbanded Scorpions unit for their role in bringing the former police commissioner to justice.
They said, however, future corruption cases were at stake under a police-led investigation unit, the Hawks, which had taken over all the Scorpions’ cases since its disbandment.
“It could be more difficult to prosecute senior police officials on corruption charges in future owing to the replacement of the [independent] Scorpions with the newly founded Hawks unit, which falls under the direct command and control of the SAPS,” AfriForum community safety head Nantes Kelder said.
“The Hawks have done excellent work so far, but there is a need for an investigating unit that is not controlled directly by the SAPS,” Kelder said.
‘Too lenient’
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), however, said Selebi’s sentence was too lenient and that he deserved a longer jail term.
“We believe that Mr Selebi’s sentence is too lenient and he deserved a lengthier jail term,” said Velaphi Ndlovu, IFP spokesperson on police issues.
“He was not only an embarrassment to the SAPS, but to the country’s image abroad because of his involvement with Interpol.”
Ndlovu said that Selebi’s actions had tarnished the police force’s image and diminished the public’s respect and confidence in the SAPS.
Most other parties agreed with this, with Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille saying the sentence sent out a strong message that South African courts would not hesitate to deliver justice in corruption cases. “I agree with Judge [Meyer] Joffe that Selebi is an embarrassment to the court, South Africa, the South African Police Service and the government that appointed him,” De Lille said.
DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said the sentence brought to an end one of the most controversial trials in South Africa.
“Controversial because of the numerous obstacles placed in the way of due process and the law in trying to bring this criminal to book, and controversial because we as a country are almost completely unfamiliar with the idea of a corrupt official, connected to the ANC, actually going to prison.”
She said the government should think about the integrity of a police structure that was for years led by an individual who on Tuesday “joined the ranks of the very criminals from which the police were supposed to protect society”.
“The reason was cadre deployment and cadre deployment alone, and that ANC-driven policy needs to be scrapped,” Kohler-Barnard said.
The IFP said the sentence would show that corruption would not be tolerated, and that no one is above the law.
“The IFP sincerely hopes that Mr Selebi will serve his time in a prison cell and not in a private hospital room,” said Ndlovu, referring to fraud convict Schabir Shaik, who was let out on medical parole in March 2009, two years and four months into his 15 -year jail sentence for corruption. — Sapa