President-in-waiting Jacob Zuma does not want the evidence that led to his
release to be made public.
But the ANC president may struggle to keep all the tape recordings that
persuaded prosecuting head Mokotedi Mpshe to withdraw corruption charges against
him under wraps - as they have been declassified and are expected to be handed
to police boss Jackie Selebi this week.
Earlier this week it emerged that police bosses had promised Selebi copies of
the "top secret" tape recordings, which the police chief has suggested will
prove there is a conspiracy against him.
The recordings include intercepted telephone conversations and SMSes between,
among others, then-Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy and former National
Prosecuting Authority head Bulelani Ngcuka discussing the Zuma and Selebi
prosecutions.
The announcement that the tapes would be given to Selebi came just days after
Zuma's lawyers told NPA lawyers that he was not prepared to allow the public
release of his representations to the State as they were "confidential".
Zuma's lawyers have also demanded that the DA be ordered to provide R1,2-million
in security before it is allowed to legally challenge Mpshe's decision to drop
the charges.
The DA had applied for copies of all documents and evidence that Mpshe had
before him when he decided to drop all charges against Zuma as part of the
party's court challenge to the decision.
The DA's attorney Mervyn Smith yesterday said that the party was "not giving up"
on its court challenge and would respond to Zuma lawyer's letter within the next
few days.
Confirming that the tapes they had been promised by the police were those used
by the Zuma team in their representations, Selebi's legal team on Wednesday said
they were still to receive the recordings.
Days after Mpshe withdrew all charges against Zuma on the basis of tape-recorded
conversations discussing the timing of Zuma's recharging, Selebi reiterated his
belief that Ngcuka was the NPA's puppet master.
Selebi said it was "significant" that Mpshe's decision to withdraw all charges
against Zuma "relied solely on the fact that Ngcuka was, indeed, controlling the
(Scorpions)".
This article was originally published on page 2 of
The Star
on May 07, 2009