Judge Willem Heath is consulting his family and friends about his future after President Thabo Mbeki turned down a request by the controversial corruption-buster to resign from the judiciary.
On the advice of Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, Mbeki sent a letter to Judge Heath refusing his request to be discharged from active service as a judge. Judge Heath, who has been on long leave, is due to return at the end of this month but had hoped to leave the bench to become a private sector anti-corruption consultant.
The decision by Mbeki was made just weeks ahead of a planned request by Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille for a judicial review of Mbeki's decision to exclude the special investigating unit, formerly headed by Judge Heath, from the arms deal investigation.
Acting on a Constitutional Court ruling, the national assembly has approved legislation barring a special investigating unit being headed by a judge.
This means that even should Mbeki's decision to exclude the unit be overturned, Judge Heath could not be involved in the arms deal probe because he would continue to be a judge.
Source: Cape Times
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