Karyn Maughan and Louise Flanagan
A judge vying for a position at South Africa's highest court has admitted that he kept his history as the only judge legally allowed to authorize phone tapping under wraps.
But Pretoria High Court Judge Willie Seriti said that he elected not to disclose his previous status as interceptions judge to the Judicial Service Commission because he feared that doing so would be illegal.
Asked by The Star whether he had authorised the tape recordings of top prosecuting bosses that won President Jacob Zuma his freedom, the judge said he could not remember.
"If I've done it I can't recall it," he said.
"The only thing I can confirm is the period I served."
Judge Seriti yesterday told The Star the omission of his interceptions work on his CV was deliberate because he thought the law prohibited him from mentioning this work, and that even his report to Parliament had contained only statistics on interceptions but no details.
"I'm not sure whether one should disclose it," he said.
"It's a very touchy issue, but I erred on the side of caution."
The judge said that if his identity had not previously been confirmed, he would not have discussed it. "Even to protect myself, I wouldn't want to mention it unnecessarily."
Judge Seriti could not remember the exact dates he served as the interceptions judge, but it included the period of November and December 2007, when the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) tapped the telephone conversations of former NPA boss Bulelani Ngcuka and then head of the Scorpions Leonard McCarthy.
When the acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe announced the dropping of charges in April shortly before Zuma became SA president, he cited the recordings as the reason for his decison.
"The transcripts contain material that was of vital importance in the NPA reaching its decision," said Mpshe at the time.
"The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) confirmed to the NPA that it indeed had legally obtained recordings of many of the same conversations which were obtained during the course of its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the production and leaking of the Browse Mole report," said Mpshe.
NIA gave the NPA transcripts of the relevant sections of the recordings, he said.
"The NPA is thus confident that its decision is based on information that was intercepted legally and obtained legally by the NPA."
If the recordings were obtained legally, it means the interception was authorised by a judge.
In May 2007, Judge Seriti was identified as the interceptions judge by Dr Siyabonga Cwele, now Minister of Intelligence.
The judge no longer does the intercepts because the law calls for a retired judge to do this, not an active judge.
Judge Seriti said this would not affect the matters he had dealt with, as the difference was to enable the judge to have enough time to do the work. "Whether you are a retired judge or not, you are still a judge."
Yesterday Judge Malesela Legodi told the JSC he had acted as the interceptions judge during 2007.
His CV lists his appointments as including "Monitoring for Department of Intelligence" in 2007.
Judge Legodi said this was an acting appointment and included authorising interception of communications.
It was pointed out to him that there is no Department of Intelligence; instead there is a Ministry of Intelligence which oversees various intelligence institutions.
These include the NIA, which made the recordings.
Later Judge Legodi told The Star he had acted for only about two months, around June 2007, and was not involved in the McCarthy-Ngcuka matter.
Earlier this month Independent Newspapers reported that the inspector-general of intelligence Zolile Ngcakani is to be replaced in three months. His office has yet to explain how Zuma's lawyers got hold of the tapes of the interceptions.
This breaking news flash was supplied exclusively to iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister title, The Star.
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