Response to the statement issued on 13 December 2012 by the DA Shadow Minister of Justice
The SIU remains concerned at several inaccuracies in the statement issued on 13 December 2012 by the DA Shadow Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Ms Debbie Schafer. The speculative nature of the statements and allegations against the Acting Head of the Unit Adv Nomvula Mokhatla are misplaced. Adv Mokhatla has managed both her responsibilities at the SIU and NPA excellently by devoting her time to the issues of both offices. As a result a number of long standing matters have been resolved in the short time she has been with the Unit.
On the reinstatement of Mrs Miseria Nyathi, the matter has been dealt with and the Acting Head and Minister of Justice have accounted in Parliament and the matter is closed. Mrs Nyathi is the Head of Business Support continues to perform her duties in this capacity. The statement about Mrs Nyathi "really running the SIU" is misleading, false and without basis. All heads of business run their respective units in harmony with each other and in sync with the Acting Head of the Unit.
Of great concern to the Unit is the integrity of the source or sources which provide the DA with the misleading information and Ms Schafer's failure to verify or even interrogate such information. This also puts the integrity of the DA into question when unfounded and false statements like these are issued.
The Unit is an independent statutory entity and cannot enter into any political debate with the DA on political issues around it. The Unit has responded to questions that the DA and other political parties have asked on its operations and administration through appropriate channels before and will continue to do so in the future. It is unfortunate that Ms Schafer continues to issue out misleading statements on the Unit's internal affairs. These statements are bringing the Unit into disrepute.
The Unit and Acting Head are open to engaging with Ms Schafer to better inform and educate her on how the Unit runs its affairs in fighting corruption and maladministration.
Statement issued by Boy Ndala, SIU Communications, December 20 2012
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