By Carien du Plessis, Angela Quintal and Karyn Maughan (www.iol.co.za)
It’s payback time and the African National Congress wants former NPA bigwigs Bulelani Ngcuka and Leonard McCarthy to be punished for allegedly conspiring against Jacob Zuma.
This emerged on Monday after acting National Prosecuting Authority boss Mokotedi Mpshe announced that charges would be dropped against the ANC president.
Mpshe cited evidence of taped phone conversations between Ngcuka and McCarthy as having played a key role in his decision.
While Mpshe made clear that the State’s case against Zuma was strong, he said McCarthy’s alleged abuse of the legal process made it “unfair as well as unjust to continue with the prosecution”.
It was therefore neither possible nor desirable for the NPA to continue with Zuma’s prosecution.
Mpshe said that while this did not amount to Zuma’s acquittal, charges would be formally withdrawn after a court hearing.
KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala confirmed that this would be done in the Durban High Court at 10am on Tuesday.
Mpshe put the blame squarely at McCarthy’s door. He said he felt “personally wronged and betrayed”, especially as he had given evidence under oath that there had not been any meddling or manipulation in the process.
Asked if he would resign, Mpshe made it clear he would not, as he was not to blame.
Although McCarthy and Ngcuka could face possible criminal charges, they will not do so without a fight. Ngcuka was in consultation with his legal team on Monday and was expected to issue a statement on Tuesday.
McCarthy, who heads the anti-corruption unit at the World Bank, had yet to break his silence, although both men want copies of the tapes that have been used to hang and quarter them in public.
The South African Communist Party on Monday made it clear that the World Bank should fire him.
Meanwhile, politicians emerged relatively unscathed, including former president Thabo Mbeki, who has long been accused of being part of a political plot against Zuma.
Mpshe said the NPA had not asked for a statement from Mbeki, because “in listening to the discussions, we could not find any trace that the former president was involved in any of this. We did not find any conclusive evidence (against Mbeki).”
While not denying the reference to “the big man” contained in the intercepted McCarthy recordings, Mpshe said he could “not say who he (McCarthy) is referring to”.
Questioned about communications suggesting McCarthy and Mbeki had met, Mpshe answered: “That’s what Leonard said. I don’t have the proof that they met.”
Mbeki’s spokesperson, Mukoni Ratshitanga, on Monday said the former president would not be commenting on the withdrawal of charges against Zuma.
“It was the NPA, not Mr Mbeki, who preferred the charges in line with powers vested in them as a prosecution agency by the constitution of the Republic. It is worth recalling that while he was president of the Republic, Mr Mbeki’s office consistently declined to comment on the NPA’s decisions.”
While admitting it was difficult for him to comprehend how McCarthy’s “abuse of power” could have happened, Mpshe said he believed “it is vital that the NPA must expose this conduct and deal with the consequences as honestly and constructively as possible if it is to have any chance of rebuilding its credibility and integrity”.
“Our democracy will have to find ways to learn from this bitter experience and to build a stronger and more independent NPA,” he added.
Mpshe said the NPA believed it was “vital that a full and proper investigation must be conducted by a judge or independent person to make recommendations about any further actions to be taken” in regard to McCarthy’s interference in high-profile investigations, including that against Zuma and National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, who is currently on special leave.
“While the NPA will continue with its investigations, it has also decided to prepare a full report (on the McCarthy interference evidence) and present it to the minister of justice and the president to decide on further action,” he said.
The NPA, Mpshe said, had also discovered “significant new information” about the Special Browse Mole Report investigation against Zuma – which centred on allegations, later widely rubbished, that Zuma was being bankrolled by several African leaders and was party to a plot against Mbeki.
Meanwhile, the NPA, while acknowledging that Zuma’s prosecutors had argued that the decision to drop charges should be made in a court of law, yesterday declined to release lead Zuma prosecutor Billy Downer’s statement on why the case should not be dropped.
Mpshe on Monday confirmed that Downer and his team believed that the decision on whether McCarthy’s interference had irreparably damaged the case against Zuma should be made by a judge, rather than the NPA itself.
Asked whether the NPA would release Downer’s statement, Tlali said this “will not be possible”.
Mpshe and Asset Forfeiture Unit head Willie Hofmeyr repeatedly stressed that it was “not so much the prosecution itself that is tainted, but the legal process itself”.
NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali on Monday confirmed that all the charges against Zuma and his corruption co-accused, French arms company Thint, would be formally withdrawn at 10am on Tuesday.
Judge Tshabalala on Monday told The Star he had been contacted by Zuma’s attorney, Michael Hulley, on Monday afternoon.
“He wanted to know when the court would be available so that the charges can be withdrawn.
“I indicated that I would be available on Thursday, but they insisted that it should be sooner as they wanted the matter to be concluded as soon as possible,” he said.
The judge president will preside over the hearing himself, because courts in the province are officially in recess and most judges are on leave.
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