Parliament - Parliament should think twice before rubber-stamping the decision
to fire chief prosecutor Vusi Pikoli because all indications are that he could
have it overturned in court, opposition parties warned on Tuesday.
The African Christian Democratic Party said if he did so, Pikoli would expose
the political reasons that prompted President Kgalema Motlanthe to fire him and
the bias of the ANC-dominated committee reviewing his removal from office.
"It will clearly end up in court and all
of us who have done the deliberating will end up in the dock,"
ACDP justice spokesman Steve Swart told the committee.
"Let us bear that in mind."
Swart and other opposition MPs said they feared the committee was a farce since
it was clear that the ANC had decided to oust Pikoli and had already picked his
successor.
Press reports on Tuesday said the government was poised to name Durban advocate
Muzi Wilfred Mkhize as the new head do the National Prosecuting Authority next
month.
"In this morning's Cape Times I read that Advocate Pikoli's successor has
already been appointed," Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip Koos van der Merwe
said.
"That corroborates my view. We are playing
along like fools because the decision has been taken."
The committee must advise MPs on whether or not to endorse Motlanthe's decision
to sack Pikoli for allegedly flaunting national security concerns, contrary to
recommendations of the Ginwala Inquiry.
Pikoli says he was sidelined by former president Thabo Mbeki for moving to
arrest national police commissioner Jackie Selebi, and has been fighting to hold
onto his post.
The director general in the presidency, Frank Chikane, last week told the
committee Mbeki suspended Pikoli in September 2007 to prevent an almost certain
revolt if he were to arrest Selebi.
Chikane said Mbeki had top-secret information that the country could be
destabilised but Pikoli defied him, refusing to wait two weeks to give the
presidency time to put in place safeguards.
Even ANC members of the committee on Tuesday rejected Chikane's dramatic version
of events.
"I'm not compelled by the view that somehow the country was going to collapse if
Pikoli acted. But I do think a more nuanced view of national security was
necessary," justice committee chairman Yunus Carrim said.
Carrim said the committee should not only debate Pikoli's fate but also
determine to what extent the head of the NPA had to answer to the executive.
The 22-member committee will meet again on February 10. It then has three days
to report to the National Assembly. - Sapa