Zuma interdicted in Pikoli case

Axed NPA boss Vusi Pikoli scored a significant victory on Tuesday when the North Gauteng High Court interdicted President Jacob Zuma from appointing a successor for Pikoli.

Pikoli, fired by Parliament earlier this year after then president Kgalema Motlanthe recommended his sacking, is fighting his removal from office which, according to him, was ultimately motivated by protecting former police national commissioner Jackie Selebi from prosecution. Judge Ben du Plessis on Tuesday prohibited Zuma from appointing a new National Director of Public Prosecutions, which means Zuma will now have to wait for the outcome of Pikoli’s attempts to be reinstated that will be heard by the same court in November. Advocate Mokotedi Mpshe, a deputy director of public prosecutions, has been acting as NDPP since Pikoli was originally suspended by former president Thabo Mbeki in September 2007.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Heath supports Mpshe’s decision

Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Moketedi Mpshe could have made no other decision than to drop charges against African National Congress president Jacob Zuma, former judge Willem Heath said on Thursday.

"If he proceeded [with the prosecution] the judge would have ruled that it was an illegality and it would have come to an end," Heath said.

Heath said it was frightening that practising legal practitioners had been so quiet about the outcry over the NPA's decision.

"The silence and the apathy of practitioners in South Africa after the announcement by advocate Mpshe is deafening."

Source: News 24.com

Mbeki suspends NPA boss

President Thabo Mbeki has suspended the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Vusi Pikoli, the GCIS said on Monday. "This decision was taken on the basis of an irretrievable breakdown in the working relationship between the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and the NDPP," said Government Communications and Information System's spokesperson Themba Maseko. He said the suspension was in terms of Section 12 (6) (a) of the National Prosecution Act 32 of 1998.

Maseko said Mbeki considered the relationship between Minister Mabandla and the NDPP central to the effective administration of justice and the "smooth functioning" of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). "The relationship breakdown had adverse implications for the NPA and the functioning of the criminal justice system," he said. He said an enquiry would be instituted to investigate the functioning and role of the NDPP. Recommendations would then be made to the President.

Deputy National Director Mokotedi Mpshe has been appointed as acting director. "Government would like to reassure all South Africans that the functioning of the justice system will not be compromised, especially within the context of the collective challenge to fight crime," he said.

Source: News 24.com