|
Statement by Sunday Times Editor, Ray Hartley |
| Publication |
Sunday Times |
| Date | 2012-11-18 |
| Reporter | Ray Hartley |
| Web Link | blogs.timeslive.co.za |
The decision by acting Judge Nomsa Khumalo
of the Pretoria High Court that the Sunday Times
can publish the article “How Zuma got off the
hook” represents a victory for free speech.
The judge ruled that the NPA had failed to argue
that there were grounds for an urgent interdict
against the newspaper and awarded costs to the
Sunday Times.
The story by a award-winning investigations unit
(Stephan Hofstatter, Mzilikazi wa Afrika and Rob
Rose) is based on over 300 pages of leaked
documentation, which show that top prosecutors
were convinced they had a winning case against
Jacob Zuma. Despite this, the then Acting head
of public prosecutions, Mokotedi Mpshe overuled
them and dropped the charges in 2009.
The story includes details of secret
representations made by Zuma’s lawyers to the
NPA and a series of internal memorandums in
which top prosecutors argue strongly against
dropping the charges despite claims that the
prosecution was tainted by political
interference. Their argument was essentially
that political interference should not trump the
merits of the case which they believed to be
strong enough for a successful prosecution.
Sadly, the NPA has
said it intends bringing a fresh court action
against the Sunday Times this week*1 on the
grounds that the documents were illegally
obtained. This too will fail because the
documents were leaked to the Sunday Times and
are demonstrably in the public interest.
Instead of trying to keep vital
information away from the public, the NPA would
do well to heed the constitution’s call for an
“open” society and its protection of freedom of
expression. Its
dogged attempts to protect certain political
leaders from public scrutiny are raising
serious doubts about its ability to serve the
public with the independence and integrity
required of a prosecuting authority.
What is chilling is that if the Protection of
Information Bill is passed in its current form,
this sort of reporting will become illegal.
With acknowledgement to Ray Hartley and Sunday Times.
*1
Very brave to publish excerpts from the
representations.
These are some boykies.
The rest is no problem because it should have
been part of the Reduced Record which the SCA
has ordered to be produced by the NPA.
Clearly Jiba's and the NPA's rationale for not
producing the reduced record is that the records
within it refer to the representation. But of
course they would. The Accused submitted his
representations in circa March 2009 and only
then did the prosecuting team have any reason to
justify their decision to prosecute. So clearly
their own representations would refer to the
Accused's representations. It's kind of a
tautology and post hoc fallacy at the same time.
That is just no reason not to produce these NPA
internal representations in the Reduced Record.
If they included any actual references to the
Accused's representations then this should have
been subject to severance.
So Indeed, Jiba should be prosecuting herself
for contempt of court.
Mpshe should be disrobed for the Bar and the
Judiciary. Dishonesty has no place in either.
Hofmeyr should be penning his resignation letter
right now for handing in tomorrow at 08:01 CAT
as finks, party hacks and political opportunists
have no place in the National Prosecuting
Authority.
Let's get some order in this place.
It's been a hard day at the Sunday office.
The news at 19:00 CAT.