DA goes to court to have Fraser removed

The DA has approached the Constitutional Court to have the appointment of former spy boss Arthur Fraser as the national commissioner of correctional services set aside with immediate effect.

It also wants the court to declare that by making the appointment, President Cyril Ramaphosa violated his constitutional obligation.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane said in a statement the party had filed papers with SA’s apex court seeking exclusive jurisdiction by the court on the matter‚ or alternatively to be granted direct access to it.

“Fraser is a compromised individual who is wholly unfit to hold such a vital position within government‚ and as such the president erred in his appointment of such an individual‚” Maimane said.

He said the DA was seeking an order declaring that Ramaphosa’s recent appointment of Fraser “violated the president’s constitutional obligation to appoint a national commissioner who was sufficiently conscientious‚ had enough credibility to do this important job effectively and was of good character”.

THE PRESIDENT’S DECISION TO APPOINT FRASER FALLS FOUL OF PRESIDENT’S OWN CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATIONS

“Arthur Fraser fails every aspect of this test. In fact‚ his coordination of a parallel intelligence network should have been reason to fire him, not rehire him in a different capacity. We therefore ask of the court to review and set aside the president’s decision to appoint Arthur Fraser as national commissioner of correctional services on April 17 2018‚” the DA leader said.

“Cyril Ramaphosa’s ‘new dawn’ has failed to stop the ANC’s long-standing practice of reshuffling compromised individuals within government departments. This practice must be abolished once and for all‚ not carried out by the president.

“In the tight fiscal space our country is currently in‚ we cannot be wasting millions of rand of public money on dodgy individuals‚” Maimane added.

Fraser was moved to correctional services last week‚ two days before he would have opposed an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria brought by Setlhomamaru Dintwe‚ the inspector-general of intelligence‚ to interdict Fraser’s decision to revoke Dintwe’s security clearance.

Dintwe accused Fraser of revoking his top-secret security clearance as a way of thwarting an investigation in which Fraser himself was directly implicated.

The urgent court bid was dropped after Fraser was moved and Dintwe got his topsecret security clearance back.

“In [the] light of the damning and serious allegations against Fraser — including that he operated a secret and parallel intelligence service from his own home while working for the State Security Agency and utilised millions of rand of public funds for personal gain — the president’s decision to appoint Fraser falls foul of the president’s own constitutional obligations. We had initially written to the president seeking answers as to why Fraser was appointed‚ and the rationale behind this appointment‚” Maimane said.

The DA leader said Ramaphosa had failed to answer the questions‚ “and as such we have little option but to approach the court”.