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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
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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/ 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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/ 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.
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/ 24 January 2008
Speeding down a road with no worries of being caught on camera may be the fortunate situation for some Johannesburg drivers until next week after the National Prosecuting Authority has said that metro police must reapply for permission to use speed cameras on specific roads.
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/ 22 January 2008
South Africa’s young constitutional democracy is now facing serious challenges that threaten to unmake a great beginning. In managing the contradictions within and between the ruling party and the state, and among state institutions, fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law must be the starting point, writes Shadrack Gutto.
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/ 21 January 2008
The decision to re-open an investigation into the Anton Lubowski murder has not yet been taken, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Monday. Lubowski, a Stellenbosch University-educated lawyer, a Namibian anti-apartheid activist and a prominent South West Africa People’s Organisation member, was assassinated 18 years ago.
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/ 21 January 2008
The African National Congress (ANC) is getting rid of the Scorpions in order to protect ANC members from corruption charges, according to the leader of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille. Zille said on Monday that besides the seven convicted criminals on the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC), six NEC members are currently the subject of investigations.
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/ 20 January 2008
The African National Congress (ANC) has laid down the law to President Thabo Mbeki following two days of discussions between its national executive committee and the Cabinet, the <i>Sunday Times</i> reported. The ANC was also moving to get Mbeki to appoint Kgalema Motlanthe as a second deputy president in government.
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/ 19 January 2008
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has come out in support of the chief prosecutor of Pretoria’s decision to withdraw charges against advocate Gerrie Nel, head of the Scorpions in Gauteng, it said on Friday. The Pretoria Regional Court this week withdrew charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice against Nel.
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/ 17 January 2008
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, who is facing corruption charges, will appear in court on February 1, prosecutors said on Thursday. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Tlali Tlali said Selebi would appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court. He gave no further details.
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/ 17 January 2008
Jackie Selebi’s legal team would like to have him brought to court earlier than the National Prosecuting Authority’s proposed date of January 30, one of his advocates Fanus Coetzee said on Thursday. ”It is because of the availability — we all have practices we are running,” said Coetzee.
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/ 16 January 2008
Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke will answer his critics in the African National Congress (ANC) in a statement to be issued on Thursday. The ANC’s national working committee has accused Moseneke of showing disdain for delegates to its national conference in December last year in remarks made at his recent 60th birthday party.
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/ 16 January 2008
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has proposed that police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi present himself to the Randburg Regional Court on January 30. ”We wrote to Selebi’s attorney proposing this,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Wednesday.
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/ 16 January 2008
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has requested an urgent meeting with President Thabo Mbeki to discuss what she calls ”the growing perception of a constitutional and moral crisis” in South Africa. ”The implication of the police national commissioner and the ruling party’s presidential candidate in corruption cases is but one reason for this perception.”
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/ 16 January 2008
The South African Police Service has accused the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of trying to obstruct the probe into Gauteng Scorpions head Gerrie Nel. This comes a day after the Pretoria Regional Court withdrew charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice against Nel.