Proper that accusations are proved'

The presidency has strongly defended its decision to establish the Hefer commission in the face of rising criticism, saying it would act as a deterrent to those who may be tempted to accuse others in the future.

This is the first time that the presidency has commented on the commission since it started hearing evidence, suggesting that President Thabo Mbeki is satisfied with the process so far.

The commission has only two days of hearings this week, today and Friday, after which it will wrap up its investigation next Monday with evidence from Scorpions chief Bulelani Ngcuka himself.

Bazir Hoossein, a former colleague of acknowledged apartheid spy Vanessa Brereton, will give evidence today.

Hoossein was a trustee of the Henk von Andel trust, which has featured in evidence at the commission, and worked in Brereton's legal firm.

On Friday, the commission hopes to hear evidence from the home affairs department and also the government employees' pension fund. Evidence has already been given that Ngcuka was not a member of the pension fund prior to 1994.

Addressing the Black Management Forum in Johannesburg, presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo said the commission was an appropriate step to protect the pillars of democracy, especially institutions that were set up to uphold justice and the constitution.

"The country could not afford to have its director of the National Prosecution Authority embroiled in controversy it was proper that those who accuse the office be challenged to prove it," Khumalo said. He said if SA did not have a credible rule of law to govern business, it would face the challenges experienced in other developing economies where business survival was confined "to the most brutal".

He said it would have been easy for SA's economic imperatives and transformation to be hijacked by a few unholy oligarchs and for government to split into self-serving factions which sought economic spoils, as happened elsewhere in the world.

"Business in SA is not a fertile field for extortionists and confidence tricksters," he said.

With acknowledgements to Hopewell Radebe, Tim Cohen and Business Day.