Publication: FF Plus Issued: Date: 2007-21-06 Reporter: Willie Spies

Minister "Does Not Recall" whether She Travelled with Ginwala

Press Release

6 December 2007

 

Issued By       : Mr Willie Spies

Capacity        : FF Plus MP

Date             : 6 December 2007
 

The Minister of Justice, Me. Brigitte Mabandla, does not recall whether she travelled with the former Speaker, Dr. Frene Ginwala, on a SAA flight between Cape Town and Johannesburg on 20 September of this year. This is revealed in an answer to a Parliamentary question by the FF Plus MP, Willie Spies, addressed to the Minister.

According to Spies, who himself had been on the relevant flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg, the fact that the Minister and the former Speaker had travelled together is meaningful as the trip occurred merely days before the suspension of the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv. Vusi Pikoli. The Minister did not answer Spies' question whether she and Ginwala had attended any meetings together between 19 and 24 September (the day on which Pikoli was suspended). A simple "yes" or "no" would have cleared the issue. The fact that the Minister however sufficed with an answer that she "does not recall" - however raises new questions about Dr. Ginwala's independence in the investigation. Ginwala now has to investigate the question as to whether Adv. Pikoli is suitable to hold the position of National Director of Public Prosecutions following the irretrievable breakdown of the working relationship between Pikoli and Mabandla. "If Mabandla and Ginwala had held a meeting about the issue in advance, the independent investigation was still-born", Spies said.


Willie Spies

Contact no.: 083 676 0639

 


Department: Justice and Constitutional Development

Republic of South Africa

                                                National Assembly 
 

Question for Written Reply 

Question No.: 1845

Date of Publication: 9 November 2007

Mr W D Spies (FF Plus) to ask the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development:†

(1)       Whether she travelled from Cape Town to Johannesburg together with the former Speaker Ms Frene Ginwala on 20 September 2007 (particulars furnished); if so,

(2)       whether she attended any meetings together with the former Speaker after her arrival in Gauteng or before her departure from Cape Town between Wednesday, 19 September and Monday, 24 September 2007; if so, what (a) was the nature and (b) were the details of these meetings?                                                               
 

NW2804E

Reply

I do not recall meeting Dr Frene Ginwala on the said day.  Our records show that I did travel by air on the flight referred to by the Honourable Member.

 
*1       So far, The Star does not seem to be taking Mr Lesufi DEMAND seriously.

Maybe , if Mr Lesufi couched his desires as a request, he might be taken more seriously.

And so what's he going to do now, report The Star to The Press Ombudsman?


*2      Unfortunately, whatever pains were taken the NPA stresses about, the journalists tried to distill everything that they heard and read and came to the conclusion that they reported, which is a reasonable one.

It is simply unreasonable to conclude that all the legal efforts being undertaken in the circumstances of being in possession of "damning evidence", in copied or original form, can lead to nothing.

Then it will truly be a situation where, as the one defendant, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, says :

"This investigation reminds me of Shakespeare's Macbeth when he said after a long soliloquy: '... It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
See :
Zuma Breaks His Silence
Mail and Guardian
2003-08-15
Sapa
www.mg.co.za , http://www.armsdeal-vpo.co.za/articles04/zuma_breaks.html