Johannesburg - An inquiry into National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Mxolisi Nxasana's is a “witch-hunt”, the DA claimed on Sunday.
“We believe that Nxasana’s attempts to reinstate charges of murder, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice against disgraced crime intelligence head, Richard Mdluli, have put his job on the line,” Democratic Alliance MP Glynnis Breytenbach said in a statement.
“It is no secret that Mdluli is a close ally of (President Jacob) Zuma and was deployed to crime intelligence to protect the president from accountability.”
She claimed Nxasana was being pushed out because he was trying to assert his independence.
The presidency on Saturday announced that President Jacob Zuma was going ahead with a probe regarding Nxasana's fitness to hold office.
In August last year, Zuma notified Nxasana that he was considering suspending him pending an inquiry into his fitness to hold office.
Nxasana filed an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria in September seeking an interdict to stop Zuma from suspending him before he had been provided with full details of the allegations against him and given a chance to make further representations.
Judge Joseph Raulinga postponed his application indefinitely.
Zuma announced his decision to institute the inquiry on July 5, after reports emerged that Nxasana had apparently not been given a security clearance because of past brushes with the law.
This included being tried for murder around 30 years ago. He was acquitted on the charge based on his version of self-defence.
Breytenbach said the timing of the announcement was “deeply suspicious” given the recent clampdown on some of the country's critical institutions.
The DA would write to Zuma demanding he make public the terms of reference of the inquiry and when it was due to start.
“A full and thorough probe must be conducted so that this inquiry can be exposed for the witch-hunt that it truly is.”
Sapa