Tense day-long meeting of prosecution bosses fails to decide on way forward
THE National Prosecuting Authority last night could not reach a decision over which was "the lesser of two evils" - dropping or pursuing the corruption case against presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma.
Acting NPA boss Mokotedi Mpshe met the Zuma investigation and prosecution team yesterday to go through their case against the ANC president. They also reviewed the submissions made by Zuma's lawyers.
"No, we have not reached a decision yet, because we have just finished our meeting. We have to see what move to make next," Mpshe told The Times minutes after walking out of the meeting last night.
Mpshe had heard arguments from advocate Billy Downer, his chief prosecutor in the Zuma case, and discussed the matter with his deputy prosecutions boss, Willie Hofmeyr.
Hofmeyr has been liaising with Zuma's legal team.
An insider involved in some of the earlier deliberations said: "I know there are differing opinions. Prosecutors will argue the case until they are blue in the face, but it's up to the decision makers [Mpshe and others] to determine if they are convinced or not.
"Repetition will not strengthen the case. In the end, some will be disillusioned and disappointed, yes."
The NPA is to continue its deliberations today.
Though it has refused to commit itself to a time frame, its spokesman, Tlali Tlali, said: "Hopefully, we will conclude [today].
"There is no win-win here. It is a lose-lose, but ultimately the question rests on the decision makers' sense of justice," an insider said.
Last week, The Times established that intelligence agents had eavesdropped on phone calls between several people, including former NPA boss Bulelani Ngcuka and then Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy.
The secret tapes allegedly included conversations between former president Thabo Mbeki and McCarthy.
The recordings are understood to form part of Zuma's representations to the NPA on why the charges against him should be dropped.
Zuma has argued that the criminal charges against him were politically motivated.
But yesterday Imtiaz Fazel, chief director in the office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence, dismissed calls for an investigation into the so-called "Mbekigate" tapes.
He said: "Allegations of the interception and monitoring of the communications of senior officials apparently discussing the Zuma case have not been confirmed and no evidence of these allegations have been made available to the office of the Inspector-General."
DA leader Helen Zille said that if the NPA dropped the charges against Zuma "there will be a cloud hanging over Zuma's head and the entire government".
"If he never appears in court, he cannot be presumed innocent," said Zille.
"The fact of the matter is that Jacob Zuma has a case to answer in court. This is as clear as day. It is a fact that Schabir Shaik was found guilty of giving Zuma money to further Shaik's interests in the arms deal."
Former judge Willem Heath, who has been giving legal advice to the ANC in its bid to declare Zuma's prosecution invalid, said he was "very optimistic" that the NPA would drop the case against Zuma.
"There are informal indications that the charges will be withdrawn," he said.
