NPA: Mr President where are the terms of reference for Nxasana probe?
1 February 2015
The DA notes President Jacob Zuma's decision to move forward with the inquiry into NPA boss, Mxolisi Nxasana's fitness to hold office, after nearly six months of stalling in this regard.
This follows an announcement by the Presidency yesterday stating that "President Jacob Zuma is going ahead with a probe into National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Mxolisi Nxasana's fitness to hold office."
We believe that Nxasana's attempts to reinstate charges of murder, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice against disgraced Crime Intelligence Head, Richard Mdluli, have put his job on the line.
It is no secret that Mdluli is a close ally of Zuma and was deployed to crime intelligence to protect the President from accountability.
Mr Nxasana might indeed be a fit and proper person to hold the office, but is now being pushed out because he is trying to assert his independence.
This while a full six months later, President Zuma has still not announced terms of reference to guide this inquiry into Nxasana, despite several written requests by the DA for this information.
Additionally, the President has not suspended NPA second-in-command, Nomgcobo Jiba, and Commercial Crimes Head, Lawrence Mwrebi, even though they are central to frustrating Nxasana in his efforts to discharge his mandate independently.
The inexplicable delay gives credence to what the DA believes now more than ever: that the inquiry is designed to disguise a "witch-hunt", enabling the President to get rid of the NDPP for being too independent and prosecuting without fear of favour.
President Zuma is indeed "a one man wrecking ball" who has managed to reduce the Hawks, the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) and SARS to toothless investigative bodies in order to protect himself and those close to him. He has now put the NPA on notice that it is next in line for "state capture" by political interests.
The timing of this announcement is deeply suspicious given the recent clamp down of critical institutions. It is clear that President Zuma is determined to diminish every independent institution that attempts to investigate misconduct at the very top. It is not hard to join the dots.
Given this announcement, one can only conclude that those at the very top are prepared to do just about anything to escape accountability.
The DA will again write to President Zuma demanding that he make public the terms of reference into this baseless inquiry, and when it is due to begin. A full and thorough probe must be conducted so that this inquiry can be exposed for the "witch-hunt" that it truly is.
Statement issued by Glynnis Breytenbach MP, DA Shadow Minister of Justice, February 1 2015
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
