Ngcuka: I pushed to delay prosecuting Jacob Zuma

Former prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka has confirmed that he pushed for former president Jacob Zuma to be charged with corruption after the ANC’s 2007 Polokwane Elective Conference – because he believed charging him before then “would worsen the already tense political climate and may even lead to political violence”.

He also insists he took this stance in the now notorious “Spy Tapes” conversations with then Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy, three years after resigning from his powerful post, because he wanted the state to avoid “creating an incorrect public perception that the NPA was not politically independent”.

The Spy Tapes recordings led then acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe to withdraw all charges against Zuma and the French Arms company accused of bribing him, Thales, in 2009. That decision was later overturned as irrational in high and appeal court rulings.

“I consistently told him [McCarthy] it would be wrong to charge Mr Zuma on the eve of the conference. I believed it would have given rise to the perception that the NPA was trying to prevent Mr Zuma from being elected as the president of the ANC, which in turn would undermine the public’s confidence in the NPA as an independent (ie politically neutral) institution,” he said.

Ngcuka also questions whether the tapping of McCarthy’s phone was legally authorised – and adds that he surmises the Spy Tapes recordings reached Zuma’s lawyers in an illegal way.

In an affidavit filed as part of the NPA’s fight back against Zuma’s application for a permanent stay of his corruption prosecution, Ngcuka openly admits that he was a supporter of former president Thabo Mbeki, but denies that the case against Zuma was driven by a desire to neutralise him politically.

“As the husband of the then deputy president of the republic [Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka] and someone who was in regular contact with current and former ANC politicians, I was acutely aware of the heightened potential for political violence in the country at the time.”

Zuma stands accused of receiving 783 corrupt payments totaling over R4m from his former financial advisor Schabir Shaik in the 10-year period between October 25 1995 and July 1 2005. In return for these payments, the state claims, Zuma abused his political positions to do unlawful favours for Shaik and his company.

The state further alleges that Thales “conspired with Shaik and Zuma to pay Zuma the amount of R500,000 per annum as a bribe” in exchange for Zuma’s protection from any arms deal investigations.

Ngcuka says he wanted ANC conference delegates to see the affidavit before they went to Polokwane, as it “would counter the narrative that he [Zuma] was the innocent victim of a political conspiracy”.

The former NDPP has been one of Zuma’s biggest targets in his permanent stay application, but Ngcuka maintains that Zuma and his lawyers have been making untrue claims against him for the last 15 years.

Ngcuka says Zuma’s then lawyer falsely accused him in August 2003 of trying “to get Mr Cyril Ramaphosa to mediate between the NPA and Mr Zuma [and others] (something which I did not do)”. Zuma’s permanent stay application is due to be argued in May.

I consistently told him [McCarthy] it would be wrong to charge Mr Zuma on the eve of the conference