|
|
South Africa: Rev Chikane Dismisses Contradictory Reports
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
BuaNews (Tshwane)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Bathandwa Mbola
Johannesburg
The Director-General in the Presidency, Reverend Frank Chikane, did not contradict himself when testifying before the Ginwala Commission on Thursday, as reported in the media.
"It is wrong to say I have contradicted myself. I wrote an article published in the City Press in August 2007 trying to explain the prescribed post-TRC processes with particular reference to the case of State vs Van der Merwe and others," Rev Chikane said in a statement on Thursday.
"I did not believe it was proper to openly and publicly address the treatment I received from the officials of the NPA, a state institution, which included the failure to consult me on the content of the plea bargain the NPA reach[ed] with Van der Merwe and others," he said.
The Director General was responding to media reports alleging that he had made conflicting statements about his treatment at the hands of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP).
Rev Chikane on Wednesday was testifying on whether suspended National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Vusi Pikoli was fit to hold office, and whether he had been treated badly by the NDPP.
However, media reports said Mr Pikoli's lawyer Tim Bruinders on Thursday produced a letter Rev Chikane wrote to City Press in August 2007, praising the unit.
The reports said this was in contrast with his testimony on Wednesday that he was unhappy with a plea bargain agreement that saw apartheid-era law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and others prosecuted for trying to poison him.
Rev Chikane told the inqury that Mr Pikoli failed to appreciate the implications on national security of using specialists from outside government who had not been vetted.
The Ginwala public hearings, headed by the former speaker of Parliament Frene Ginwala, was commission by President Thabo Mbeki to investigate to investigate Advocate Pikoli after he was suspended, due to a breakdown in the professional relationship between himself and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla.
The enquiry will look into any other matters that may relate to the fitness and propriety on the National Director to hold office.
|
The first is the exercise of discretion by Adv Pikoli in the decision to prosecute offenders, or grant immunity from prosecution to suspects allegedly involved in organised crime, with particular regard to the public interest and the national security interests of the Republic.
The second main issue to be investigated is the breakdown of the relationship between the Minister of Justice and the National Director of Public Prosecutions, in the context of the legislative and constitutional obligations placed on the minister and the NDPP.
Other witnesses expected to take the stand include Deputy Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Arthur Fraser and Assistant Police Commissioner Flip Jacobs of the South African Police Services.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
