Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence came to ”incorrect conclusions” in its report on the so-called ”Special Browse Mole Consolidated Report” produced by the Scorpions, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Wednesday. ”Whilst we respect the role of the committee, we contest its views,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
There is no statute determining exactly what provisions should be in a search warrant, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday as African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint began a last-ditch bid to prevent key documents from being used against them.
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma arrived at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday amid a heavy security presence and the sound of camera shutters as photographers attempted to shoot pictures. A heavy police presence was visible around the court buildings while journalists packed the press gallery trying to get a view of Zuma.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will ”revisit” its mail handling processes after five staffers became ill after handling a letter delivered to the office of acting head Mokotedi Mpshe, spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Monday. Mpshe was not affected, but five people had to be treated for headaches and rashes.
The office of National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) acting head Mokotedi Mpshe was quarantined on Thursday when it was discovered that a threatening letter addressed to him was laced with a poisonous substance, the Sunday Times reported. NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali confirmed that at least one employee had a violent physical reaction to the letter.
The Mauritian Attorney General (AG) has asked for more time to prepare his documentation in Jacob Zuma’s court battle, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. Rama Valayden wants to counter Zuma’s attempt to prevent Mauritius from handing documentation over to the National Prosecuting Authority.
Johannesburg road speed cameras will be up and running this week, the Johannesburg metro police department said on Monday. ”There was a growing concern for human life as motorists began using roads as racing tracks when the cameras were not working,” said Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.
As the National Prosecuting Authority was revealing in papers submitted to the Constitutional Court how African National Congress president Jacob Zuma allegedly failed to declare his income to the taxman, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Friday was keeping mum.
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/ 28 February 2008
Mauritian Attorney General Rama Valayden has formally objected to a request by African National Congress president Jacob Zuma to withhold information from investigators in South Africa, a media report said. The evidence relates to his impending fraud, corruption and money-laundering trial.
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/ 28 February 2008
A charge of insurance fraud against Clinton Nassif, former security head for slain mining magnate Brett Kebble, was withdrawn in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. ”The accused is a witness in other matters we are pursuing,” prosecutor Patrick Nkuna told the court in withdrawing the charge.
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/ 25 February 2008
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on President Thabo Mbeki to make public the full report of the Khampepe Commission. ”I have today [Monday] submitted a request to the Presidency to make the full Khampepe Commission Report public in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act,” DA leader Helen Zille said in a statement.
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/ 20 February 2008
Stripped of its polemical verbosity, Philip Dexter’s article (January 25) simply argues that the electoral contest against Thabo Mbeki’s leadership was just about personal power to pursue egoistic interests. The newly elected leadership will use its power to pursue these interests, including purging those who differed with them towards the national congress, writes David Masondo.
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/ 18 February 2008
The public should attend the presentation of the National Prosecuting Authority’s annual report to Parliament this week to show their sense of betrayal at the dissolution of the Scorpions, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) said on Sunday.
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/ 18 February 2008
The acting head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Mokotedi Mpshe, on Monday said he was puzzled by statements saying the Scorpions are to be ”disbanded” on the one hand, and ”dissolved” on the other, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
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/ 16 February 2008
Johannesburg motorists had been using roads as a ”speeding track” since traffic law enforcement authorities in parts of Gauteng were barred from using speed cameras on some of the busiest roads in the city. The cameras were switched off until further notice, after traffic authorities failed to submit applications requesting permission from the National Prosecuting Authority.
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/ 16 February 2008
Acting National Prosecution Authority boss Moketedi Mpshe has defended President Thabo Mbeki against suggestions that he lied about not being informed about the probe on police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.
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/ 14 February 2008
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille is to request a meeting with African National Congress president Jacob Zuma to discuss the future of the Scorpions, she said on Thursday. ”I intend to put this challenge to him. I will write to Mr Zuma and request an urgent meeting to state unambiguously the disastrous consequences that disbanding the Scorpions will have for South Africa.”
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/ 14 February 2008
”A disgrace”, ”Answers needed” and ”Crushing more than the Scorpions” was how some newspaper editorials reacted on Thursday to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula’s announcement in Parliament that the Scorpions would be dissolved.
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/ 14 February 2008
African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma was in Mauritius on Wednesday in connection with the corruption case he faces. Zuma’s lawyer, Michael Hulley, confirmed by telephone from the Indian Ocean island that his client was meeting with legal representatives about documents that allegedly contain proof of bribes being solicited.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Presidency said on Wednesday that it would have to consult President Thabo Mbeki before commenting on a report quoting former ambassador to France Barbara Masekela. In the report, Masekela is quoted as saying she had arranged a meeting between Mbeki and an arms company that is the co-accused in Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial.
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/ 12 February 2008
South Africa’s elite, FBI-style Scorpions anti-crime unit will be dissolved, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Tuesday. ”The Scorpions … will be dissolved and the organised crime unit of the police will be phased out and a new, amalgamated unit will be created,” Nqakula told Parliament in Cape Town.
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/ 12 February 2008
President Thabo Mbeki failed to take action despite being told South Africa’s police commissioner faced prosecution over his alleged links to organised crime, the Star newspaper reported on Tuesday. The paper quoted an affidavit filed on Monday by Mokotedi Mpshe, the acting head of the National Prosecuting Authority.
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/ 9 February 2008
The past few months have taught us a depressing lesson about the long and uncertain journey required by constitutional democracy. Foundational principles of accountability, transparency and the independent operation of institutions through which constitutional democracy is mediated, including the judiciary, are all under great pressure.
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/ 5 February 2008
The Scorpions are the country’s last effective corruption-busting unit and disbanding them will affect the fight against organised crime, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. ”Every time special units were integrated [into the police] it has impacted on the ability to fight crime in that area,” party spokesperson Tertius Delport said.
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/ 2 February 2008
South Africans need to defend the notion of a fair trial in relation to Jacob Zuma, said African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee member Mathole Motshekga at an ANC party gathering at Polokwane in Limpopo, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Saturday.
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/ 1 February 2008
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was charged with three counts of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice in the Randburg Regional Court on Friday. He also faced an alternate charge of receiving an unauthorised gratification ”by a person who is party to an employment relation”. The case was postponed to June 26.
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/ 31 January 2008
It will likely be a short first appearance for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in the Randburg Regional Court on Friday, a member of his legal team said. Selebi would be present at the court but it was likely that his case was going to be postponed, advocate Fanus Coetzee said on Thursday.
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/ 31 January 2008
The labour minister has welcomed the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority to prosecute two Sasol employees in connection with an explosion in 2004 in which ten people were killed. ”We are happy that our recommendations for prosecution have resulted in someone having to account for the flouting of … laws,” said Membathisi Mdladlana on Thursday.
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/ 30 January 2008
Trade union Solidarity on Wednesday demanded that the Department of Labour publish a detailed report about an explosion at Sasol in which 10 people were killed. ”Solidarity demands publication about the 2004 Sasol explosion within 48 hours,” said union spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans.
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/ 28 January 2008
President Thabo Mbeki has taken opposition leader Helen Zille into his confidence on the case of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi and on other contentious issues, she said on Monday. She met Mbeki at the Union Buildings in Pretoria for talks that lasted for longer than two hours.
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/ 28 January 2008
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille arrived for a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings just before 2pm on Monday. The electricity supply crisis, the indictment of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and the prosecution of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi were some of the agenda points for the talks.
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/ 25 January 2008
High-profile criminal cases involving senior South African officials have renewed fears among opposition parties and the legal community that judicial independence may be at risk. President Thabo Mbeki’s government has had a testy relationship with the judiciary.