Countdown to commission of inquiry
AUGUST 20, 2013
Mxolisi Nxasana is appointed National Director of Public Prosecutions, taking over from advocate Nomgcobo Jiba, who had been acting in the position following the Supreme Court of Appeal’s 2012 ruling that Nxasana’s predecessor, advocate Menzi Simelane, was not fit to hold office.
OCTOBER, 2013
It emerges that a security clearance was not conducted on Nxasana, in the same month he vouches to clean up the NPA’s image. Justice Department spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga says the matter is being attended to, adding that the security clearance was ‘neither a constitutional nor a legislative requirement’.
MAY, 2014
Then-justice minister Jeff Radebe asks Nxasana to resign, saying he has a report from the State Security Agency saying it has declined Nxasana’s security status because of previous transgressions, including a 1985 murder he was tried for.
JULY 4, 2014
President Jacob Zuma informs Nxasana that he has taken a decision to institute an inquiry into his fitness to hold office.
JULY 5, 2014
Zuma announces his decision to set up an inquiry to probe Nxasana’s fitness to hold office in terms of Section 12 (a) (9) (iv) of the National Prosecutions Act of 1988.
JULY 30, 2014
Zuma advises Nxasana of his intention to suspend him in line with Section 12 of the NPA Act.
AUGUST, 2014
Nxasana approaches the High Court in Pretoria for an order preventing Zuma from suspending him before he has a chance to make representations to the president. In papers, he says Zuma told him he’d be suspended pending an inquiry into his fitness to hold office.
FEBRUARY, 2015
Zuma establishes the terms of reference for the inquiry to look at circumstances surrounding Nxasana’s previous convictions and whether they were in line with the integrity of the person holding the office.
MAY 10, 2015
Inquiry chairman advocate Nazeer Cassim is instructed to terminate the inquiry.
MAY 11, 2015
The inquiry is terminated just moments after it commenced, with no reasons given.