Public protector Lawrence Mushwana is well versed with the working style of former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Bulelani Ngcuka.

After Mushwana released a report last year on whether Ngcuka had conducted himself properly when investigating allegations of corruption against former deputy president Jacob Zuma, Ngcuka said he felt sorry for Mushwana as he had no backbone.

Ngcuka’s remarks were made on television, something current NPA head Vusi Pikoli is unlikely ever to do. Since Pikoli took over the NPA in February, he has called only one press conference — when he took over as head of the authority.

Where Ngcuka was brash, Pikoli is shy; where Ngcuka was loud and flamboyant, Pikoli is a behind-the-scenes operator who prefers to let his work do the talking.

And where Ngcuka was a hobnobber and a media-savvy politician, Pikoli is an unassuming public servant who shuns the limelight. Even yesterday’s announcement of the NPA’s decision to charge Zuma was left to Pikoli’s spokesman, Makhosini Nkosi.

The NPA has also distanced itself from media leaks, something quite common under Ngcuka and his spokesman, Sipho Ngwema.

Perhaps it is in their handling of Zuma that the differences between the two men — in terms of style and public conduct — are sharpest.

Ngcuka set the ball rolling when he called a press conference in 2003 and said there was prima facie evidence of corruption against Zuma, but it was insufficient to secure a conviction. Commentators accused Ngcuka of acting as prosecutor and judge. They said a prosecutor concentrated only on his case and the courts decided the merits.

Pikoli has taken less than three weeks to investigate Zuma and issued a bland statement saying there was a reasonable prospect for a successful prosecution.

The authority, under Ngcuka, angered the African National Congress a few years ago with its tendency to announce that senior politicians were being investigated for serious crimes, only to leave the allegations hanging years later.

With acknowledgements to Ernest Mabuza and the Business Day.