President Jacob Zuma has denied that a presidential pardon to his former
financial adviser and convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik was on the cards, but
has admitted to meeting apartheid-era convicted murderer Eugene de Kock in
prison.
Zuma told e.tv in an interview last night that Shaik had not applied for a
pardon. "I have nothing in front of me. If there was an application before me,
you should ask the question. Why should I respond if I do not have the
application before me?" he said.
Zuma also said he did not know if Shaik was still ill, as he had not visited
Shaik since his release on medical parole in March last year.
He did admit to meeting former Vlakplaas commander De Kock in prison, but denied
that the issue of a presidential pardon was discussed.
"He asked to see me, and I went to see him," Zuma said. The Star reported about
the visit last week, and the presidential spokesman said he was not aware of it.
Zuma refused to say whether he would consider a pardon for De Kock.
"Once (the application) is before me (I will apply my mind). There is nothing I
cannot apply my mind to once it is before me. The facts are on the application
and that will influence the decision, so I can't prejudge the matter," he said.
Asked if the matter of a pardon for the two men was urgent, he replied: "I don't
know," and laughed.
The Presidency again issued a statement on the matter yesterday, saying Zuma
"has not at this stage looked at or considered any of the 300 current
applications for pardons" that have been brought to the Presidency.
It said there was no deadline for Zuma to make a decision.
"He received the pardon applications from time to time. The Presidency will not
enter into discussions of individual applications, as their confidentiality must
be respected. The applicants will be notified once their cases have been
concluded," it said.
According to reports in Sunday newspapers, Zuma was considering granting pardons
to high-profile offenders like De Kock and former SACP leader Chris Hani's
assassins, Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus, in exchange for pardons for Shaik
and several IFP supporters.
DA spokesman on correctional services James Selfe said in a statement yesterday
that the DA did not support "the sort of political expediency and
back-scratching that the president appears to be engaging in".
"The law should never be reduced to a game of 'your criminal in exchange for
mine'," he added.
Selfe said all these criminals had committed very serious offences and had not
served much time of their sentences. He said the DA would insist that the
criteria for presidential pardons, as established by the Department of Justice,
be taken into account, including considering the seriousness of the offence.
In last night's interview, Zuma defended his decision to appoint controversial
former justice director-general Menzi Simelane as national director of public
prosecutions.
He said Simelane was correct in intervening in the imminent arrest of former
police commissioner Jackie Selebi, as the National Prosecuting Authority's
independence was "relative and not absolute".
Zuma also said he would not call for any investigation into a claimed abuse of
power within the NPA relating to the corruption case against him, which was
dropped early last year.
At the time, the NPA said there was evidence of abuse of power by former
Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions) head Leonard McCarthy and former
prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka, and recommended that these abuses be
investigated.
Zuma said: "These are the questions you should have asked the president then."
He said, however, the government was generally prepared to act against any abuse
of power by those in public office.
The interview took place shortly after the party's January 8 birthday rally in
Kimberley on Saturday.
With acknowledgements to
Carien du Plessis and The Star.
Just don't believe it.
The next thing after the denials and the impasse will be its announcement as
fait accompli.