Johannesburg - Former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Mxolisi Nxasana wants to return to his job to continue the prosecutorial work he was prevented from doing by its highest-profile target - ex-president Jacob Zuma.
In written submissions filed on Friday with the Constitutional Court on Nxasana’s behalf, his advocates said the rule of law would be ensured by restoring him as leader.
“His reinstatement would allow him to continue the prosecutorial work he was
prevented from doing by its highest-profile target (Zuma),” read the submissions.
In his affidavit filed last month, Nxasana complained: “Throughout my tenure as NDPP (National Director of Public Prosecutions), the head of the NPA, I was a target of a campaign aimed at ensuring that I could not fulfil my duties, notably with respect to the
decisions I was required to make as NDPP regarding the prosecution of the fourth respondent (Zuma).”
In two weeks’ time, Nxasana’s successor, Shaun Abrahams, is expected to announce his decision on whether he will reinstate corruption, fraud, tax evasion and racketeering relating to the multibillion-rand arms deal.
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The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) does not want Abrahams to be the NDPP deciding on the reinstatement of the charges against Zuma.
Casac has also told the court that Nxasana “is a man who has a price” and that “the institution (the NPA) is best served if he is not reinstated”.
Nxasana insisted there was no evidence supporting Casac’s contentions, saying the R17.3 million golden handshake he received was not illogical but an amount based on what he would have earned as a salary had he served his full term as NDPP.
“The integrity of the office of the NDPP would be strengthened by the return to public service of a man who withstood an assault on his position for nearly two years for simply trying to do his job,” read the submissions.
According to Nxasana’s advocates, a public servant who withstood the ordeal detailed in Nxasana’s affidavit was precisely the man who should be returned as NDPP to complete his work.
The Concourt was today due to hear Nxasana’s application for leave to appeal against the adverse Pretoria High Court order that failed to reinstate him.
Nxasana complained that the high court drew adverse inferences against him, in the absence of considering his version, and which ultimately resulted in the court concluding that it was not just and equitable to reinstate him to the office of NDPP.
“The high court elected not to reinstate Nxasana to his position as NDPP on the basis of adverse findings that it drew against him, in the absence of hearing his version,” explained his advocates.
Unlike Casac, Corruption Watch, Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation, which has applied to be a friend of the court, have asked the Concourt to reinstate Nxasana.
The council wants the decision to invalidate Abrahams’s appointment confirmed by the country’s highest court.