Zuma’s needs once again trump due process at NPA

THE embattled National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been hit by yet another scandal. Revelations that national director of public prosecutions Mxolisi Nxasana failed to disclose his past brushes with the law — including being charged with murder — mean South Africa might once again find itself without a permanent super-prosecutor.

This is a major blow for the criminal justice system in a country in which incidents of crime and acts of corruption are unacceptably high.

Since the creation of the post in the late 1990s, no national director of public prosecutions has finished his seven-year term.

Bulelani Ngcuka and his successor, Vusi Pikoli, were ousted from office as part of internal ANC leadership battles that almost paralysed the justice system. Mokotedi Mpshe, the man who took over from Pikoli on an acting basis, plunged the NPA into deeper crisis when he controversially withdrew corruption charges against Jacob Zuma just months before Zuma won his first term in office as president.

When Zuma finally appointed a full-time national director, he chose Menzi Simelane — a man who had ago long proven to be unfit to hold such office. A court declared Simelane’s appointment unlawful, finding that Zuma had not applied his mind when taking the decision.

After years without a permanent head, Nxasana’s appointment as the new NPA boss late last year was greeted with great relief and many hoped for a fresh start. Those hopes have now been dashed. Once again, the integrity of the NPA has been compromised by the failure of state agencies — especially the intelligence services — to do their basic job of vetting candidates for top state jobs.

The revelations are also an indictment of Zuma, whose personal lawyer and official legal adviser, Michael Hulley, is said to have put much pressure on then-justice minister Jeff Radebe to recommend Nxasana for the job. This was obviously done with Zuma’s interests in mind and not those of the republic.

If South Africa’s interests were put first, due diligence would have been done to ensure Nxasana was suitable. But because our presidential office is preoccupied with ensuring that the corruption charges against Zuma are not reinstated, we ended up with a questionable individual for a national director.

The law gives the president all the power when it comes to such an appointment. But the experience under the successive regimes of Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Zuma shows us that this approach is open to political abuse and to compromising the independence and integrity of both the national director and the NPA.

The time has come to change the selection process and criteria.