Durban - The NPA has blamed the delays in charging President Jacob Zuma on the complex nature of the case opened by the DA at the Nkandla police station two years ago.
Luvuyo Mfaka, NPA spokesperson, said on Tuesday: “If you sit with complex documents, there will be delays, as you have to be thorough with analysis and interpretation of them.”
Mfaka was commenting in the wake of a parliamentary response by the ministries of police and justice, who told the DA the investigation was concluded and the docket handed to Shaun Abrahams, the national director of public prosecutions, for a decision.
The DA instigated eight charges of corruption against Zuma for alleged complicity in the misappropriation of public funds to upgrade his homestead at Nkandla.
The police ministry said the case docket was handed to Abrahams in August 2015 and the decision on whether to prosecute was awaited.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha confirmed the police had investigated the matter, but it was now under consideration by the NPA.
“Prosecutors are still considering the matter and therefore no decision has been taken as yet. It is regrettably not possible to provide a definite date when this investigation is expected to be concluded,” Mfaka said.
However, Mfaka said the prosecutors were working hard to ensure there was finality on the matter.
Meanwhile, the DA wants the contractors that undertook the security upgrades and related work at the Nkandla homestead to be “blacklisted”.
This comes after Public Works Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko confirmed in another parliamentary reply that none of the contractors were blacklisted. “The Department of Public Works has not placed any supplier on the restricted supplier database. However, the department has started a process to do so where there is evidence that the supplier has breached the SCM (supply chain management) policy and/or National Treasury regulations.”
Nhleko, who earlier this week cancelled a briefing to clarify reports about renovations at Zuma’s homestead, also said that out of the 14 contractors that were involved in Nkandla upgrades, eight were re-hired by his department from August 2014 to date.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane said it was shocking that none of the companies were blacklisted and that some were given other work by the department despite the Constitutional Court finding that the upgrades were riddled with corruption and unlawful enrichment.