Pretoria - The presidency said on Monday it had not yet been informed by Special Investigating Unit (SIU) head Vas Soni of his resignation.
“The presidency has not yet received formal communication from advocate Soni. His departure would be a great loss to the criminal justice system,” it said in a statement.
“Advocate Soni has acquitted himself extremely well and very effectively since taking over as the head of the SIU. The unit has managed to process a lot of investigations in a short space of time under his leadership.”
SIU spokesman Sefura Mongalo said earlier that Soni had resigned for personal reasons.
“His wife has not been well for the past five months,” he said.
Soni told broadcaster eNCA he needed to spend time with his wife.
When asked whether the job had been stressful, Soni said it had.
“I think it has been stressful and it's a serious challenge... I had spent almost my entire working life in the private sector and did not realise what a challenge working in the public sector is,” he told the broadcaster.
Soni was appointed by President Jacob Zuma in September 2013. He indicated he would be going into private practice.
In September last year, the SIU found that Zuma was enriched by state-funded improvements to his Nkandla home, but placed the blame for millions lost as the project escalated into “unacceptable extravagance” on his architect Minenhle Makhanya.
In her report released in March, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Zuma had derived undue benefit from the improvements made to his KwaZulu-Natal homestead.
But whereas she recommended that he should repay a portion of the cost, the SIU concluded that the best way of recovering state money lost at Nkandla was to claim it from Makhanya.
The SIU's civil claim against Makhanya was postponed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday to February 25.
Sapa