Durban - NPA boss Mxolisi Nxasana is the victim of a flawed vetting process, the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society said on Friday.
“The office of the NDPP (National Director of Public Prosecutions) is an office of the Constitution and as such an appointment to such office should have preceded with the highest degree of due diligence,” the society's president Poobalan Govindasamy said in a statement.
“The current issues raised by the executive reflects a shocking but not surprising incompetence in the due diligence process which should have addressed in the first place, the issues now raised.”
Nxasana, who once served as president of the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society, was appointed into his National Prosecuting Authority position by President Jacob Zuma last year.
Last week, it was reported that former justice minister Jeff Radebe instructed Nxasana to resign a few days before the new Cabinet was announced.
Nxasana had reportedly not been given a security clearance because of past brushes with the law. He refused to resign.
Govindasamy said the situation sent an incorrect message to the public that someone found not guilty in court “may possibly be lacking in security clearance”.
He said the law society had undiminished confidence in Nxasana's integrity.
According to various media reports, Nxasana stood trial in 1985 for murder but was acquitted, based on his version of self defence.
He reportedly also admitted to being arrested for “careless driving and refusing arrest” last September. He was fined R2000 about 12 years ago, suspended for three years, by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society for misconduct.
Nxasana has vowed to challenge the matter in court or an inquiry should he be fired.
On Friday, the Mail & Guardian reported that NPA security head Tshilidzi Ramahana wrote to the NPA's CEO defending himself after receiving a suspension notice over Nxasana's security clearance.
NPA chief executive Karen van Rensburg apparently sent Ramahana
a suspension notice on Tuesday, citing “gross insubordination and gross misconduct” for refusing to take responsibility for Nxasana's failure to disclose the murder he was acquitted of.
Justice Minister Michael Masutha is expected to meet Zuma to discuss the matter.
Sapa