Murder, assault charges back to haunt NPA boss
MURDER and assault charges against National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Mxolisi Nxasana are to be revisited at an inquiry into his fitness to hold office.
The families of a man he stabbed to death and a woman he assaulted will be called to give evidence, according to a senior government source.
Another witness is expected to be a former love rival, who claims Nxasana tried to stab him in a fight. The man said their dispute was over a woman, Joyce Khumalo, whom they both dated in 1986.
The Sunday Times has learnt that Joyce’s mother, Aggrieneth Khumalo, 72, will testify at the inquiry.
Aggrieneth and another witness, Bongani Nhlapo, recently told Sunday Times reporters that Nxasana “is a woman beater, a bully and a thug”.
“You know, I fear a person who beats you up and even strangles you,” said Aggrieneth. She described how Nxasana assaulted her daughter in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal, about 30 years ago.
Nxasana apparently paid a R50 admission of guilt fine for the assault. Aggrieneth said her daughter had been “too afraid to testify”.
A senior government source asked Nxasana: “Do you want the mother of a woman you assaulted to come out and bare her soul on how you strangled her daughter?”
The source said Nxasana should have done “the honourable thing” by resigning “when the skeletons started coming out”.
The Sunday Times was in- formed this week that relatives of the man Nxasana stabbed to death in Umlazi, outside Durban in KwaZulu-Natal — allegedly in self-defence — would testify. Nxasana was acquitted on the murder charge.
The revelations come as President Jacob Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, the NPA and the Justice Department failed to answer questions on the matter sent on Thursday.
Justice Ministry spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said he had referred the questions to Maharaj. NPA spokeswoman Bulelwa Makeke said she had referred the questions to her colleague, Nathi Mncube, who also failed to respond.
According to three indepen-
Mpshe could be brought back. They say he’s a better devil
dent sources, Zuma wants the commission to start in the next few weeks “because he can’t afford to have the matter dragging on for too long”.
“It’s in his interest to hold it as soon as possible and in his interest to have it headed by a credible chairperson,” said a senior government official.
This came amid speculation in government circles that Nxasana was as good as gone.
Sources said he had angered Zuma and some senior government officials and ANC politicians for failing to take the president into his confidence when details of his troubled past emerged.
Last month, Nxasana was
denied top-secret security clearance for failing to declare the murder acquittal, a R2 000 law society fine and a 2012 traffic offence. Sources claimed that these details and the “immature” manner in which he handled the controversy around his criminal records had led to Zuma and his advisers losing confidence in him.
“How he has conducted himself when his past surfaced is a sign that he’s not fit for the job. He can’t come back,” said a senior government official.
“What will come out [of the inquiry] will leave him tainted. We can argue about how tainted he will be.
“The challenge is how he responds to a formal inquiry.”
Sources said some of Zuma’s advisers were already lining up possible successors should the inquiry go against the prosecutions boss.
The names being touted include former acting national director of public prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe, who dropped corruption charges against Zuma in 2009.
“What I am being told is that Mpshe could be brought back. They say he’s a better devil,” said another senior government official.
Zuma announced last week he would institute an inquiry into Nxasana’s fitness to hold office in terms of the National Prosecuting Authority Act.
This means the NPA, which spent two years without a permanent head until Nxasana’s appointment in August last year, will be leaderless again.
It is understood that Nxasana took leave last week and appointed one of his deputies, Willie Hofmeyr, to stand in for him.
ON July 5, President Jacob Zuma announced an inquiry into Mxolisi Nxasana’s fitness to hold office.
The national director of public prosecutions has been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry. It was initiated after it was discovered Nxasana had failed to reveal that he had killed a man when he was 18, although he was acquitted. Because of his brushes with the law, Nxasana was not granted the necessary clearance certificate.
It is the latest scandal to have hit the justice cluster, which has been plagued by corruption and maladministration. The grouping includes portfolios such as intelligence, justice and constitutional development, correctional services and police. This week, By the Numbers looks at the key dates that have come to define this core component of South Africa’s administration and those who have led the group under Zuma.
2007 On September 23, then-president Thabo Mbeki establishes the Ginwala commission of inquiry to determine whether national prosecutions director Vusi Pikoli is fit to hold office.
2008 In January, national police commissioner Jackie Selebi is suspended after charges of corruption are brought against him.
2008 In December, the Ginwala commission finds that the government failed to prove that Pikoli was unfit for office and recommends he be reinstated. In her final report she says of the director-general of justice, Menzi Simelane: “In general, his conduct left much to be desired. His testimony was contradictory and without basis in fact or in law.”
2009 On April 6, acting national director of public prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe drops charges against Zuma. That month, Politicsweb details how Mpshe plagiarised a Hong Kong judgment to support his legal argument for his decision.
2009 On July 1, Zuma appoints Richard Mdluli divisional commissioner of the police’s crime intelligence unit — despite various outstanding charges involving Mduli in connection with the murder of the commissioner’s alleged love rival, Oupa Ramogibe, in February 1999.
2009 In December, Zuma appoints Simelane the director of public prosecutions. The DA argues that, in light of Ginwala’s findings, Simelane is unfit for the position and launches a legal challenge.
2010 On July 2 , Selebi is found guilty of corruption. Among other things, Judge Meyer Joffe finds that Selebi showed “complete contempt for the truth” and sentences the former police chief to 15 years’ imprisonment. Selebi appeals unsuccessfully.
2010 In November, the High Court in Pretoria, in response to a DA application, rules that Simelane is a “fit and proper” person for the office of the director. The DA takes the judgment to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
2011 In March, public protector Thuli Madonsela issues a damning report on the new national police commissioner, Bheki Cele. She finds that his role in two police lease deals signed with business tycoon Roux Shabangu was “improper, unlawful and amounted to maladministration”.
2011 In the same month, Mdluli is suspended following charges of intimidation, three counts of kidnapping, two counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
2011 In July, in a second report on the Cele lease saga, Madonsela finds he strayed from his fiduciary duties in allowing the agreement to go ahead. She finds no criminality, but recommends a further investigation.
2011 In September, Mduli faces charges of fraud and corruption relating to the murder charge he faces; they are dropped by the National Prosecuting Authority in December.
2011 In October, Zuma establishes an inquiry into Cele. It is mandated to look into Cele’s conduct over the leases and whether he is fit to hold office.
2011 In December, the appeal court finds Simelane is not a fit and proper person for the office and his appointment is unlawful and invalid. The judgment states: “It is clear that the president did not undertake a proper inquiry.” Simelane appeals to the Constitutional Court.
2011 On December 29, after the appeal court ruling, Zuma places Simelane on special leave.
2012 In May, Mdluli is suspended after allegations that emerged during the inquest into the murder of his former lover’s husband.
2012 In June, Zuma fires Cele. He says: “The board has found General Cele to be unfit for office and has recommended his removal from office in terms of the provisions of section 8(6)(b)(v) of the South African Police Service Act No 68 of 1995.”
2012 Mdluli is reinstated as head of police crime intelligence.
2012 After much litigation, Mduli is suspended again in June.
2012 In October, the Constitutional Court upholds the appeal court’s finding that Simelane’s appointment is unlawful and invalid. The court says: “The president’s decision to ignore [the evidence against Simelane] was of a kind that coloured the rationality of the entire process and thus rendered the ultimate decision irrational.”
2012 In November, a judge rules that there is no evidence implicating Mdluli in the murder of Ramogibe.
2013 On June 20, Selebi is granted medical parole on the grounds that he needs dialysis for kidney failure. He has served just 229 days of his 15-year prison sentence.
2013 In August, the latest police commissioner, Riah Phiyega, withdraws her appointment of Lieutenant-General Bethuel Mondli Zuma as the new Gauteng provincial commissioner after it emerges she was unaware of a criminal investigation against him.
2013 In September, Judge John Murphy instructs the police to reinstate all criminal charges against Mdluli.
2014 In April, the appeal court upholds the decision to reinstate charges against Mdluli.
2014 In July, Zuma suspends national prosecutions director Nxasana, pending an inquiry.