Cape Town - The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has a new acting boss from Monday as national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) Mxolisi Nxasana has vacated the post following a settlement with President Jacob Zuma, according to the Presidency.
Deputy director of public prosecutions Silas Ramaite is serving his second stint as acting NPA boss, a decade after he previously acted in that post following the resignation of South Africa’s first prosecutions boss, Bulelani Ngcuka, in July 2004 and until the appointment of his successor, Vusi Pikoli, in 2005.
Nxasana’s departure after 22 turbulent months at the helm of the country’s prosecuting services means none of the four permanently appointed prosecution bosses have served their full 10-year term, while there also have been four acting appointments.
On Sunday Presidency spokesman Harold Maloka confirmed Nxasana’s departure following a settlement, but declined to give details on what was speculated to be a R6 million deal. “The matter of a settlement amount is between an employer and employee. It is confidential,” he said.
According to the Presidency, after “discussions and consultations held responsibly and in good faith”, it was agreed that neither litigation nor an inquiry would be in the best interests of anyone.
“The government recognises that Mr Nxasana is professionally competent and possesses the requisite experience and integrity to hold a senior position,” the Presidency said.
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach said everyone saw this coming: “It’s very disappointing. He (Nxasana) was put under so much pressure, he had no choice,” the former NPA prosecutor-turned-MP said.
Nxasana leaving the NDPP post comes three weeks after the inquiry into his fitness for office was halted by Zuma.
The probe did not get under way until earlier this year although Zuma announced it in July last year, when it emerged Nxasana had apparently failed to obtain top security clearance, reportedly for failing to disclose that he had been acquitted of a murder charge as a teenager.
Nxasana declined a request by Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe to resign, and instead approached the courts to prevent his suspension and to obtain details underpinning his would-be suspension.
Throughout this 10-month saga, Nxasana has maintained he had declared all that he legally needed to and that what was unfolding was a smear campaign against him.
City Press reported that an emotional farewell function attended by a few trusted colleagues had been held on Friday at the NPA. At least two senior officials close to Nxasana have also left the NPA.
Commentators, opposition parties and civil society organisations have long expressed concern and disquiet over the instability at the helm of the NPA, despite Zuma as recently as last week, in his budget vote debate, insisting that South Africa’s institutions were strong and stable.
Ngcuka, who was appointed in 1998 following the establishment of the NPA in democratic South Africa, resigned in July 2004 amid the fall-out over his comment that while there was a prima facie corruption case against Zuma, he would not be charged as there was no prospect of succeeding in the prosecution. Ramaite acted until Pikoli was appointed in 2005.
Pikoli fell out of favour for bringing fraud charges against Jackie Selebi, then national police commissioner, amid the heated politicking in the run-up to the ANC 2007 Polokwane conference, where Zuma was elected party president.
After his suspension in September 2007 by then president Thabo Mbeki, and the 2008 dismissal by then president Kgalema Motlanthe, the two parties reached a R7.5m out-of-court settlement in November 2009, which meant Pikoli dropped his claim for reinstatement.
Pikoli had been cleared in an inquiry into his fitness to hold office headed by former Speaker Frene Ginwala, who instead found the conduct of his successor, Menzi Simelane, “left much to be desired”.
Acting as NDPP from late 2007 until late 2009 was Mokotedi Mpshe, who announced the dropping of over 780 corruption, fraud and racketeering charges against Zuma on the eve of the 2009 elections.
That decision has been the subject of a protracted five-year court battle with the DA, which ultimately obtained the transcripts of the so-called spy tapes. They are central to the review of the NPA decision to drop charges against Zuma.
Mpshe cited from transcripts of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) intercepts of telephone conversations of Ngcuka and Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy.
In November 2009, Simelane was appointed prosecutions boss, but the Supreme Court of Appeal, in a judgment upheld by the Constitutional Court, found his appointment irrational and thus invalid.
From December 2011, Advocate Nomgcobo Jiba, a deputy NDPP said to be central to infighting at the NPA, was ultimately appointed acting prosecutions boss until Nxasana’s appointment followed in August 2013.
Jiba, special commercialised crimes head Lawrence Mwrebi and north Gauteng public prosecutions director Sibongile Mzinyathi face disbarment after the General Council of the Bar brought legal action to have them struck of the roll for unprofessional conduct.
Political Bureau