Publication: Cape Times Issued: Date: 2005-12-13 Reporter: Boyd Webb Reporter: Reporter:

Mushwana Mulls Zuma's Allegation Against Scorpions

 

Publication 

Cape Times
Date 2005-12-13

Reporter

Boyd Webb

Web Link

www.capetimes.co.za

 

Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana wants more information *1 before he decides whether to investigate allegations that the Scorpions are out to destroy ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma.

Stoffel Fourie of the public protector's office said yesterday Mushwana had asked National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Vusi Pikoli for further details regarding the allegations.

"We need more information before we decide to investigate and because the allegations are so sensitive we won't be revealing any further details," he said.

Pikoli last week asked Mushwana to probe the allegations - which Zuma once again levelled at the Scorpions. Zuma has alleged that the elite crime-busting unit, which falls under the NPA, is using the media to destroy his public image.

The latest attack by Zuma on the NPA's credibility follows the alleged leaking of an affidavit to the media claiming that Zuma and his former financial adviser once shared a prostitute at R30 000 a month.

It comes at a time when Zuma is under the spotlight for alleged rape, a charge he has denied and which he will defend in the High Court next year.

NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said if it was found that anybody in the organisation was orchestrating an anti-Zuma campaign action would be taken in terms of the NPA Act, the NPA's own internal disciplinary processes and recommendations of the Public Protector.

"On the other hand, we would hope that in the event that there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the NPA or any of its staff, damaging allegations against it - which undermine public confidence in the prosecuting authority - will be duly repudiated," he said.

The ANC's top brass have rejected Zuma's belief that there is a campaign within the party to discredit him, although he still maintains that foreign forces are at play to scupper his political future.

Meanwhile Judge Sisi Khampepe's commission of inquiry into the Scorpions' future is now nearing completion.

Her mandate includes whether the unit should be incorporated into the police; it at present falls under the Department of Justice.

Commission spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said Judge Khampepe was putting the finishing touches to her report.

However, he could not say when it would be made public.

The commission held five days of public hearings in October to determine the mandate and location of the Scorpions.

The Scorpions was established in 1999 amid concerns that police could not adequately deal with complex forms of organised crime and corruption.

With acknowledgements to Boyd Webb and Cape Times.


*1  We all want more information.

If it's true and in the public interest, we want it right out there in the media.

If it's true and reveals any kind of substantial unlawfulness, we want it, however sensitive it might be.

It's the Rule of Law.