No thanks: Vusi Pikoli

Sacked national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli rejected a R10-million golden handshake to settle his fight to reclaim his job.

The Sunday Times has established from three independent sources ­ at the presidency, justice department and in the ANC ­ that the government offered Pikoli R10-million to reinstate him on condition that he resign immediately afterwards.

Officials in the presidency and justice department say Pikoli’s refusal to accept the offer left President Kgalema Motlanthe with no option but to fire him.

Pikoli’s lawyer Aslam Moosajee said he could not comment on the matter, but a close friend of Pikoli’s confirmed the government had made offers that Pikoli had rejected.

Pikoli was suspended by former president Thabo Mbeki last year, citing an irretrievable breakdown in the working relationship between then minister of justice Brigitte Mabandla and Pikoli’s office.

Mbeki subsequently appointed former National Assembly speaker Frene Ginwala to head an inquiry into Pikoli’s fitness to hold office, following his refusal to kowtow to the president and Mabandla’s instruction to stop raids on the properties of suspended police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Selebi is facing corruption charges related to his alleged links with organised crime.

The Ginwala commission rejected the government’s charges against Pikoli, finding him fit to hold office and recommending that he be reinstated.

But Motlanthe fired him on Monday, based on the commission’s statement that he did not fully appreciate “national security” issues and the environment in which the National Prosecuting Authority operates when taking decisions on prosecutions.

An official at the department of justice said that while on suspension Pikoli had been first offered a golden handshake covering a payout for the rest of his contract. The official said he had rejected it.

He was also offered the possibility of deployment to another government department. The official said that at one stage the government offered to use its diplomatic leverage to secure Pikoli a job in the International Criminal Court of Justice in the Hague.

That failed, too, as Pikoli was determined to clear his name.

“Now that he has been expelled, he cannot claim payment for the rest of his contract,” the official said.

With acknowledgements to Moipone Malefane, Mpumelelo Mkhabela and The Times.