WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-10-04 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[But… if Jackie Selebi’s best friends are murderers and criminals… surely Pikoli had no choice? Mbeki will do anything to protect the stupid status quo. Selebi seems quite cocksure of himself too the old bastard. Jan]
By Karyn Maughan and Moshoeshoe Monare
Suspended prosecuting head Vusi Pikoli stands accused of making deals with murderers – including the men who allegedly killed Brett Kebble – in his efforts to nail National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
The government on Wednesday announced that it would investigate whether Pikoli’s decisions to grant immunity from prosecution to or enter into plea-bargaining arrangements with alleged criminals “took due regard to the public interest and the national security interests of the republic”.
Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla has indicated she would submit “a variety of cases” to show that Pikoli indemnified criminals without considering security threats, and that he is incompetent.
She is also expected to accuse the Scorpions of relying on former apartheid operatives to help them conduct their investigations.
A government spokesperson, Themba Maseko, on Wednesday declined to confirm that the alleged deals struck by the Scorpions in relation to their Selebi investigation would be one of the “variety” submitted by Mabandla.
“At this stage, the case of the national commissioner may or may not be included,” he said.
Independent Newspapers has reported that President Thabo Mbeki was peeved by the fact that the Scorpions struck a deal with murder suspect Glenn Agliotti, indemnifying him from prosecution if he implicates Selebi in other criminal activities.
As yet, the state has not confirmed that Agliotti – who is due to appear in court this week – accepted a 10-year suspended sentence in exchange for whatever evidence he may offer against his self-admitted “friend” Selebi and other high-rolling figures.
But an attorney for the men who were allegedly paid several million rands to shoot Kebble – former Elite Security Group bouncers Mikey Schultz and Nigel McGirk, and their associate, Faizel Smith – on Wednesday confirmed that they had reached Section 204 agreements with the state.
“The state provided my clients with an opportunity to be honest, and they have been completely truthful… which I think takes a great deal of courage,” lawyer Ian Small-Smith said.
“It is arguable that the Kebble case would have been solved at all, had my clients not agreed to co-operate,” he added.
He stressed that in order for the men to get immunity for the murder, the judge hearing the Kebble case would have to find that their evidence was “100-percent truthful”.
Asked whether he had been informed that the plea agreements made by Pikoli would be the subject of an inquiry, Small-Smith replied in the negative.
“But it must be noted that we entered into agreements with an office, not an individual… and those arrangements are still firmly in place,” he added.
Pikoli is not expected to take the claims against him lying down, particularly in light of the fact that shoddy police work nearly saw Kebble’s murder remain unsolved, and is understood to be in the process of appointing senior legal counsel to represent him.
He on Wednesday said he would prefer to respond to former National Assembly speaker Frene Ginwala’s inquiry into his fitness to hold office, instead of reacting to inquiries from the press.
Maseko on Wednesday said the Ginwala inquiry would examine “whether (Pikoli), in exercising his discretion to prosecute offenders, had sufficient regard to the nature and extent of the threat posed by organised crime to the national security of the Republic.”
Mbeki has also asked acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe to review the Scorpions’ case against Selebi.
Maseko said in Pretoria that the so-called “Selebi docket” had been put on Mpshe’s table and he was taking time to “apply his mind” on whether the police chief should be prosecuted.
Once Mpshe had made a decision, he would report to Mbeki.
Mbeki is understood to have raised concerns about the Scorpions building a case against Selebi on the strength of allegations made by former airport security head Paul O’Sullivan, whose foreign intelligence links have unnerved the Union Buildings.
The Scorpions’ use of private companies linked to former apartheid operatives has been the focus of government worries, with Pikoli admitting to Independent Newspapers in 2005 that some of the people employed in raids on ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma “were undesirable”.
According to the terms of her inquiry, Ginwala will examine the allegedly irretrievable breakdown of the relationship between Pikoli and Mabandla and determine whether the prosecutions head failed to acknowledge the minister’s oversight role.