South Africans may never learn who handed the controversial spy tapes to Jacob Zuma’s legal team in 2009, effectively scuttling the criminal investigation against him and clearing the path for him to become president.
The report of the investigation by the office of the Inspector-General for Intelligence (IGI) into the origin of the tapes and how they found their way into the hands of Zuma’s lawyer, Michael Hulley, will remain under lock and key.
The IGI and Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) - established to exercise civilian oversight over spies - have refused to make the report public.
Former Special Investigating Unit (SIU) deputy chief Faiek Davids - suspended after being named in recorded phone taps - is contesting his dismissal at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
In papers filed with the CCMA, Davids claims that SIU chief Willie Hofmeyr told him the tapes were “unlawful recordings” made by police crime intelligence in its attempts to frustrate the criminal investigation against former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Davids will argue he cannot be dismissed based on untested allegations gleaned from illegally obtained evidence.
He suggests the recordings exonerate him and demonstrate his political impartiality. The SIU has refused Davids access to the tapes. According to his CCMA submission, Hofmeyr said it would not be “politically advisable” for Davids to have access.
A source who has seen the report said on Sunday it had found the police’s crime intelligence division responsible for leaking at least one set of recorded conversations to Zuma’s legal team. However, the IGI stopped short of finding any individuals guilty of wrongdoing.
The source said the JSCI’s decision to block any further action on the report was not unanimous, but pushed through because of an ANC majority on the committee.
The NPA withdrew fraud and corruption charges against Zuma on the eve of the 2009 election, citing the tapes as cause to suspect political interference, contaminating the case against him.
Then NPA chief Mokotedi Mpshe announced at the time that intercepted phone conversations between his predecessor, Bulelani Ngcuka, and then-Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy amounted to “intolerable abuse” of the legal process.
Transcripts of the taped conversations, selectively released by the NPA, seemed to suggest McCarthy and Ngcuka were colluding to institute fresh charges against Zuma at a time designed to cause maximum political damage to Zuma’s efforts to replace Mbeki as president.
Mpshe closed the case and asked then-IGI Zolile Ngcakani to probe their origin and how they came into Hulley’s possession. Ngcakani later expanded his investigation to include the police’s crime intelligence division after court papers revealed that a similar set of recordings was given to Selebi in May 2009.
The IGI’s investigation was completed in late 2009 and his report handed to the JSCI on December 30, Ngcakani’s last day in office. It remained on ice as the process to appoint a new IGI dragged on.
Advocate Faith Radebe was appointed IGI in March 2010. But as the report’s author, Ngcakani was asked to accompany her when it was finally presented to the JSCI during the latter half of 2010.
JSCI chairman, ANC MP Cecil Burgess, said his committee had completed its work on the report and that it would not be made public. He said it was “not for (the JSCI) to start making this report available to the media…It is not our report. We do not own this report. You will have to speak to the owner and author of the report, but I am not saying that the IGI should make the report public”.
Burgess said his committee had fulfilled its oversight role and that “no further action” was necessary.
Radebe’s office referred media to the office of Minister for State Security Siyabonga Cwele whose spokesman, Brian Dube, then issued a media statement on behalf of the IGI, saying: “Radebe considers this matter finalised and will not make any further comments.”
Approached for clarity, Dube said the IGI “does not compile reports for public consumption”.
In 2009, DA chief whip Ian Davidson asked that the IGI investigate and was rebuffed. Ngcakani’s probe was launched at the NPA’s behest.
Davidson said on Sunday he was “not satisfied” and that the report should be made public.
He said the report could affect the DA’s ongoing Constitutional Court challenge to the NPA’s decision to drop charges against Zuma.
“We will consult our legal team to determine if we can or indeed need to take any further steps to get the report released,” he said.
The Presidency failed to answer questions as to whether Zuma had received a copy of the IGI report. - Political Bureau