Warrant out for SA police chief and Interpol chair

The Brett Kebble saga is getting uglier by the day. It appears that the unexplained and controversial suspension by South Africa’s president Thabo Mbeki of the head of the National Prosecution Authority (NPA), Vusi Pikoli, may be linked to an arrest warrant he obtained for SA’s police commissioner (and the chairman of Interpol) Jackie Selebi, in connection with an ongoing investigation into his links with crime syndicate boss Glenn Agliotti, who has in turn been arrested for suspected involvement in the death last year of prominent businessman Brett Kebble. Earlier, the president, who is away at the UN meeting in New York, said that the suspension was a result of unreconcilable conflict between Pikoli and the Minister of Justice, Brigitte Mabandla. Pikoli curiously reports to both her and to Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula.

Reports the SABC:

SABC News has reliably learnt that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has obtained a warrant for the arrest of the chief of SA Police Service, Jackie Selebi. Sources say the warrant was secured on Thursday last week by NPA head, Vusi Pikoli, before his suspension.

Sources close to SABC News have also revealed that the warrant is accompanied by a search and seizure document obtained from the Pretoria High Court.

The BBC, however, reports that the police would not confirm whether such a warrant had been issued. Speculation has long been brewing over Selebi’s casual admission of his “friendship” with Agliotti. The “Scorpions”, a special investigations unit independent from the police, which reports to the NPA, have been digging away at the Brett Kebble case as well as to charges of corruption involving the arms deal against former deputy president Jacob Zuma, who is a high-profile left-wing contender to succeed Mbeki in 2009. The unit has asked for search and seizure of documents Selebi’s police deparment holds. The repeated links to Selebi, and now Mbeki’s direct involvement in the ongoing conflict between the prosecution authority and the police, raise a lot more questions than they answer.

One of which is who is going to carry out the arrest? “Hey, boss, you have the right to remain silent.” “No, constable. You have the right to remain silent!”

Update 29/09 09:00: Madam & Eve cartoonists thought alike (at least, they didn’t differ):

Update 27/09 20:00: The opposition Democratic Alliance is in such a froth that it “reax” with the following “three points”:

First, a warrant of arrest is only issued if the prosecuting authority — the state — believes there is a prima facie case against the person for who the warrant has been issued. In other words if a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Jacki Selebi the NPA believes there is sufficient evidence against him to prosecute him in a court of law.

Second, subsequent to President Mbeki’s decision to suspend Vusi Pikoli, both the NPA and government have given explicit and express assurances that the move will not affect the performance or function of the NPA and for all accounts and purposes it will be “business as usual”. If this is indeed the case and the reports are accurate then the public will expect
the NPA to both arrest the commissioner and pursue a case against him in a court of law.

Third, if this doesn’t happen and the warrant is suspended or withdrawn, then it will become quite clear that Advocate Pikoli’s suspension was as a direct result of his decision to pursue and prosecute the commissioner.

Fourth, if a warrant has been issued two things need to happen. One, Commissioner Selebi should step down from his position with immediate effect, and two, President Mbeki needs to personally explain why he did not disclose this information to the public when he justified his decision.

Update 28/09 9:00: There’s an excellent (albeit disturbing) take on the legal validity (or, more likely, otherwise) of Thabo Mbeki’s suspension of Vusi Pikoli, by Pierre de Vos over at ThoughtLeader, the Mail & Guardian Online’s opinion pages. He correctly points out the gravity of this situation for our democracy.

Update 28/09 9:00: A thorough and detailed analysis of the events leading up to the arrest warrant for Selebi and suspension of Pikoli, including the political background, by Stefaans Brümmer of the M&G, is here.

Update 28/09 11:00: A far more detailed, considered and well-written response has been issued by Helen Zille, leader of the main opposition. She calls the implications for our democracy “profound”, and says it “constitutes a potential constitutional crisis”. Since the party’s website has not yet been updated with this response, I’ll post the full text at the end of this entry.

Update 29/09 9:30: Waghied Misbach wrote an interesting column in the Sowetan: ANC in the grip of fear.

Statement from Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance

The news late yesterday - that the National Prosecuting Authority last week allegedly obtained a warrant of arrest for the National Commissioner of Police - places the sudden suspension of the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Advocate Vusi Pikoli in a disturbing new light.

If the reports are accurate (and they must be confirmed or emphatically denied as a matter of great urgency) it seems clear that the suspension of Pikoli was motivated by the desire of President Mbeki to protect his close ally, police boss Jackie Selebi. Because the President has declined to give any satisfactory reason within the provisions of the law for the suspension of the Director of Public Prosecutions, this is the only conclusion we can draw.

The National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998 specifies a limited number of reasons for suspending or firing the National Director. These are: misconduct, ill health, incapacity, or the fact that he is no longer a fit and proper person to fill the position. None of these reasons have been advanced. President Mbeki has only spoken about “a breakdown” in the working relationship between Advocate Pikoli and the Minister of Justice. At face value, this reason does not comply with the Act and the President has chosen to give no more detail.

The implications of this development for our democracy are profound. Firstly, it adds weight to the growing body of evidence that the ANC, and particularly the President, are using state institutions to advance their political interests and protect their friends.

This constitutes a potential constitutional crisis, and is a direct result of the ANC’s “deployment policy” in which loyalists are placed in key positions requiring independence from political parties. As soon as they display such independence, they run the risk of losing their positions because the purpose of their appointment was to entrench ANC hegemony, rather than advance the values of the Constitution. These chickens are now coming home to roost.

The latest development also casts serious aspersions on the integrity of the President. In the absence of credible reasons for suspending Pikoli, this step adds fuel to the belief that the President will take whatever steps he deems necessary, no matter what damage they may do to our state institutions, to protect his close allies - as he has done for so long in relation to the Health Minister.

If true, this latest allegation also points to the fact that we have entered the phase of an imperial Presidency, where the President appears to govern almost with impunity. In both the case of the Health Minister and now with the Justice Minister, they are nowhere to be seen or heard on matters that relate directly to their portfolios. It is the President, and the President alone, who speaks on their behalf and who takes action in relation to their departments.

It is instructive in this context that the President did not consider it necessary or appropriate to reveal, when he tried to explain Pikoli’s suspension, that a warrant of arrest had been issued by the NPA for Selebi. Furthermore, it is extraordinary that no mention was made of this fact by the Director-General in the Presidency, Dr Frank Chikane, when he briefed opposition leaders on Tuesday on the President’s reasons for Pikoli’s suspension.

Perhaps now it is clear why there appeared to be a degree of confusion displayed by both Chikane and the acting President, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, when they tried to explain the reasoning for acting against Pikoli.

This specific issue will be pursued in the form of parliamentary questions by our relevant spokespersons in Parliament. Without clear answers, the impression will remain that opposition party leaders were either deliberately misled, or at the very least senior officials within the Presidency are guilty of obfuscation.

When Pikoli’s suspension was announced earlier this week, both the NPA and the government were at pains to emphasise that the move would have no effect on the functioning of the NPA. However, as the warrant in question was allegedly issued over a week ago and no arrest has yet been made, the inference is inevitable that the delay is the result of political intervention.

It must be remembered that a warrant of arrest is only issued if the prosecuting authority believes there is a prima facie case against the person for whom the warrant is issued. In other words, it is clear that Pikoli believed that there was sufficient evidence against Selebi to prosecute him in a court of law. In the normal course of events an arrest would be carried out almost immediately after the warrant is issued.

If such a warrant was in fact issued, then there is a very real danger that the integrity of the President will be further damaged if the warrant is suspended or withdrawn. Either event will only serve to reinforce the impression that Advocate Pikoli’s suspension was a direct result of his decision to pursue and prosecute the Police Commissioner.

These developments also have grave implications for Selebi’s future. There is simply no way that he can be allowed to stay on as the nation’s chief law enforcer when he himself is alleged to be the subject of a criminal investigation.

If the warrant was issued, Selebi must do the honourable thing and resign with immediate effect. If he fails to do so, the President will have no other choice but to suspend him from office. A failure to take any form of action against Selebi will do irreparable damage to public faith in the police, as well as to South Africa’s international standing.

It should not be forgotten that Selebi is currently the head of Interpol and on previous occasions both President Mbeki and the Minister of Safety and Security have launched a vigorous defence of his integrity, as allegations of possible criminal misconduct by the Commissioner continued to surface. It will be interesting to see what the response of Interpol will now be, in light of the allegation that the head of this important international law enforcement agency is the possible subject of a criminal investigation.

The DA has for over a year now called for an independent inquiry to be launched into the allegations that have dogged the Commissioner, including most notably his alleged close links - amongst others - to Glen Agliotti, the accused in the Brett Kebble murder trial. If there is an outstanding warrant for Selebi’s arrest, then a criminal trial will provide a perfect opportunity to shed light on these and other allegations.

In the absence of clear and concrete information, the deluge of rumours and counter-rumours will continue. The onus is now on the President, the NPA and the SAPS to either confirm or deny that a warrant had been issued and the matter be resolved in the interests of the nation as a whole.

Nobody should underestimate just how serious the situation has now become. We are entering a phase in our democracy where the most serious questions, with profound Constitutional implications, are being asked about the conduct of the President and the National Police Commissioner. The President needs to take the nation into his confidence. If he does not, the nation will inevitably lose confidence in him.