Publication: Sunday Independent Issued: Date: 2007-11-11 Reporter:

Let an Independent Agent Prosecute Zuma

 

Publication 

Sunday Independent

Date

2007-11-11

Web Link

www.sundayindependent.co.za

 

It would be a sad day for South Africa if a ruling party president, or the head of state for that matter, were shoved into a police van and taken to jail. No country could be proud of such an embarrassing scenario.

So South Africa is holding its breath. Such anxiety and what seems to be a crisis of leadership was initially avoidable and unnecessary. Yet it might soon be a reality if ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma wins next month's elections and becomes the ruling party leader and is subsequently elected South Africa's president in 2009 - and is charged and convicted of corruption.

He is likely to face criminal charges following the supreme court of appeal's decision to allow the prosecuting authority to approach the Mauritians to access documents relating to allegations of corruption.

It is very tempting to urge Zuma - for the sake of our national pride, our international standing and unity in the organisation- to forget about his ambition to become president, especially given his and his supporters' inability to prove political conspiracy and separate it from the legal evidence that forms the basis of the intention to charge him.

However, it is equally naive to ignore the political splotch that tainted this case. Whether there are grounds for the belief that there is a political conspiracy or not, the mere suspicion *1 of a political plot makes this case unique - one that cannot be judged on the basis of a clinical assessment only.

I expressed my reservations when the previous prosecutions head, Bulelani Ngcuka, politicised and blurred the role of the prosecution and undermined the criminal justice system *2. I have already said that, had it not been this, Zuma supporters who cry conspiracy could be dismissed as a cacophonous lot.

President Thabo Mbeki's dismissal of Zuma as deputy president, based on the judgment of Schabir Shaik case, also complicated the situation and added fuel to the conspiracy fire.

This triggers questions from Zuma supporters, such as why doesn't Mbeki act against Jackie Selebi, the police commissioner, on the basis of investigations conducted by another law enforcement agency?

The suspension of Vusi Pikoli, the national director of public prosecutions, (the merits of which I cannot discuss at this stage), has further sent unnerving signals about the independence of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

One is be tempted to ask, perhaps naively, whether Mokotedi Mpshe, the acting prosecutions head, will act independently on the Zuma case after what happened to Pikoli.

If he tries hard to prove his independence, the interests of justice could be compromised, because this might result in a trial by any means necessary.

If he considers the political ramifications, again the interests of justice and Zuma will not be served.

On the other hand, the rule of law should never be compromised, either by politicians or prosecutors embedded in politics.

Zuma, or any other person facing criminal charges, must never be allowed to use political conspiracy as a defence or as the basis to escape prosecution.

Therefore, the Zuma case should not be quashed, because this country's criminal justice system would be undermined forever. He must answer the charges.

This is why I believe a special prosecutor - independent of the executive and the current NPA - should be appointed to prosecute him. We could use our country's private prosecutions rules to do this.

It has been done in other countries, especially when the case involved a very senior executive and where the suspicion of political influence existed.

If this were done, Zuma and his supporters would have no choice but to shut up about conspiracies. They could not point to the NPA every time the ruling was not in their favour and would have to accept the outcome.

And if there was a charge to answer, it would be clear that the rule of law was separated from politics. If Zuma was cleared or convicted, justice would have been served.

By the way, Zimbabwe's independent prosecutions head, Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, has been arrested for corruption.

Those close to him say he is being persecuted for refusing to allow President Robert Mugabe to use the prosecutions authority to persecute his political opponents.

This column warned that the writing was on the wall for Gula-Ndebele.

With acknowledgements to Sunday Independent.


*1       Nonsense, there is no suspician. Everytime a matter comes before the court in argument, this gets abandoned.

The political conspiracy only exists in the minds of the followers.


*2      Now this is true - there is clear evidence.

But this dingbat was trying to get Zuma off the hook, not on the hook,

But Zuma became emboldened and reneged on the deal.


*3      So the present investigating and prosecuting teams, who've been working for over seven years on this case, have reviewed about 150 000 pages of evidence, know every angle and every witness, should just hand it over to someone else.

Rubbish.

Only the judge and his two assessors need to be independent.

Judge Squires is such a judge.

He's already proven it.