WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SA POLITICS? Documents handed to the DA by the National Prosecuting Authority show how political considerations trumped legal arguments when the then acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, Mokotedi Mpshe, controversially dropped the case against Zuma just weeks before the 2009 general elections. The High Court in Pretoria this week granted the Sunday Times access to the full recordings of the spy tapes, which were handed to DA leader Helen Zille earlier this month. The DA had fought in court for five years, and spent close to R10-million in legal fees, to obtain the tapes as well as other documents used by Mpshe in deciding to drop the corruption case against Zuma. But when the DA finally won the battle, Zille said she could not make the tapes available to the media because of a precedent set a week earlier in a different court case. This prompted the Sunday Times to write to the registrar of the High Court in Pretoria, SD Mniki, on September 9, requesting access to the court file. Access was granted on Friday after none of the parties objected. The records show that former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy was in such a panic on the eve of the ANCs 2007 Polokwane conference that he even considered travelling to the venue to personally charge Zuma. As he plotted the timing of corruption charges against Zuma with former prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka in a series of calls, McCarthy had to be restrained by Ngcuka and the then justice minister Brigitte Mabandla from moving against Zuma. Ngcuka begged McCarthy not to proceed while Mabandla warned that the move could result in bloodshed at the conference. The tapes also reveal that the Mbeki camp was gripped by fear, with lobbyists such as businessman Mzi Khumalo advising Ngcukas wife, former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, to withdraw from the ANCs top six line-up because she and former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota were considered to be liabilities. They also shed more light on the extent of the political machinations at play between McCarthy and various Mbeki supporters and sympathisers inside and outside government. The DA wanted access to the records because it intends to have Mpshes decision to drop 783 corruption charges against Zuma set aside. The party believes that Mpshes decision, which paved the way for Zuma to become the countrys president, was not based on law but rather on politics. In the recordings it is clear that political considerations played a major part as the NPA considered representations from Zumas lawyer Michael Hulley, who argued that political machinations by the likes of McCarthy, Ngcuka and Mabandla meant that the case would not be winnable for the state. In their discussions on how to proceed, Mpshe and his senior staff met with Hulley and Zumas counsel, advocate Kemp J Kemp. Kemp and Hulley took apart the states case brick by brick and warned Mpshe and his staff of the war and chaos that would follow should they proceed with criminal charges. They also warned that should the NPA win a conviction there would be a loss of confidence in the criminal justice system. Even if there was this bribe, there was no money that changed hands, do we want to go through all this and put the country through this and for what? read the NPAs notes on the meeting. Its clear that if we decide not to prosecute, its clear that the press will jump up and down but that is tough luck, thats what we as NPA are there for. The final decision not to prosecute Zuma was made on April 1 2009, when Mpshe said he could not separate McCarthys involvement and that he has no doubt that the president [Mbeki] may have been a player behind the curtains. Although some of the spy tape transcripts were made public in 2009 when Mpshe announced his controversial decision, the full record gives interesting insight into what the key players thought as Mbeki and Zuma fought it out for the control of both the party and the country in 2007. In one of the recordings, McCarthy - who clearly considered himself to be on Mbekis side - tears into the then foreign affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Dlamini-Zuma, who is now African Union Commission chairwoman, was being groomed to take over as president when Mbekis term ended in 2009. But McCarthy expressed doubt, saying she had been shocking, tentative, vulnerable and insecure in one radio interview. In another recording, Khumalo says of former president Kgalema Motlanthe that he was using Zuma as a Trojan horse and that he was positioning himself to take over the reins because he believed Zuma would be charged and convicted. There was also high drama as McCarthy tried to perfect his timing of the arrest of Zuma. With rumours swirling at the Polokwane conference, Mabandla makes a desperate call to McCarthy. MABANDLA: Ooo, there is so much panic, the whole of last night, this morning. I called Mpshe yesterday, eh, that you are about to arrest the old man. MCCARTHY: Yeah, no, no, no all that is happening is that we have to file today our opposition at the Constitutional Court to his application for a review of the search warrants. MABANDLA: Ja, but you know what, sorry, I just think that, eh, I was talking to Mpshe to say please can, eh, you know the country is agog. I dont want, I dont think we want that there be a loss of life there, nê, you know, really. The Sunday Times has seen the presentation by Zumas former chief prosecutor Billy Downer, and former Asset Forfeiture Unit head Willie Hofmeyr, who believed that Zuma had a case to answer. After listening to the so-called spy tapes, Hofmeyr in handwritten notes concluded that the two acted on a frolic of their own. He also argued that his colleagues at least found a way not bowing before political pressure. Downer warned Mpshe in a memorandum that an oral representation by Hulley did not change their recommendation to charge Zuma, and we stand by it. Two crucial memorandums were sent to Mpshe on March 20 and April 2 2009 by the team working on the Zuma investigation, advising him that a decision not to prosecute would undoubtedly be regarded by many as simply caving in to political pressure. At the time, prosecutors believed Zuma was trying to blackmail the prosecuting authority into dropping charges by threatening to release information on the spy tapes that would embarrass the NPA.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 09:13:21 +0000
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