National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Vusi Pikoli yesterday fended off accusations that there was a political motive behind the NPA’s raids on properties linked to former deputy president Jacob Zuma last week, as political pressure mounted on his office.

In the wake of condemnation of the raids by Zuma supporters in the tri- partite alliance and the legal fraternity, Pikoli yesterday appeared to climb down from the NPA’s earlier defence of investigators’ conduct during the raids.

Pikoli said in Pretoria: “I would like to state categorically that it was never the purpose of the searches to embarrass or humiliate anyone.”

He said the conduct of the raids — during which there was an armed standoff between Scorpions investigators and Zuma’s security guards — was “regrettable” and the operation could have been handled differently by the Scorpions. Pikoli also denied that his institution had leaked information to the media before and after the raids.

“All indications are that the media learnt about the searches at about 7am when a Shaik family member confirmed to a Johannesburg radio station that the house of Mr Schabir Shaik and Mr Zuma were being searched,” he said.

Pikoli’s press conference coincided with yesterday’s meeting between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partners to discuss the fallout over the raids as well as the rift caused by Zuma’s prosecution.

Pro-Zuma factions in the alliance have accused the NPA and unnamed sections of the ANC of leading a political conspiracy against Zuma.

Pikoli dismissed these suspicions. “I wish to reiterate that the NPA, and the NPA alone, has the constitutional mandate to take the decision on whether or not to prosecute a particular individual. Decisions are taken here and nowhere else. Such decisions are taken on the basis of facts, the law and evidence at our disposal. These facts are placed before court where they are open to public scrutiny and are tested,” he said.

Pikoli also had to deal with the legacy of his predecessor’s decision to publicly announce that there was a “prima facie case of corruption” against Zuma without charging the then-deputy president.

Former national prosecutor Bulelani Ngcuka’s statement was seen by Zuma supporters as a political pre-emptive strike to dent their man’s chances in the ANC’s bruising succession race.

Pikoli stood firm against criticism of the seizure of documents from Zuma’s lawyers, which has led to a raging debate in legal circles.

The seizures did not violate attorney-client privilege, which the NPA and the Scorpions regarded “as a fundamental pillar” of SA’s legal system, he said.

Searches of lawyers’ offices for evidence happened regularly, and the Scorpions took every precaution during the Zuma searches to ensure attorney-client privilege was not violated, Pikoli said. He said the privilege did not apply to Zuma’s former attorney, Julia Mohammed, as she had testified for the defence at Durban businessman Shaik’s corruption and fraud trial.

The NPA is under pressure from various quarters, including ANC leaders and sections of the South African Police Service, who say the Scorpions investigative unit should fall under the police.

With acknowledgements to Karima Brown, Vukani Mde and the Business Day.