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: 2008-01-10 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[Here is that power struggle. USA Versus Jackie Selebi. Why does Mbeki defend him? Jan]
By Moshoeshoe Monare, Deon de Lange and Karyn Maughan
The territorial war between the Scorpions and the police and the alleged criminal activities of leading law enforcers pose a serious security threat that President Thabo Mbeki has failed to tackle, a senior government official warned.
And new ANC secretary-general Gwede Mandashe told the Cape Argus: “When security agents start fighting among themselves, we” have got a potential crisis in our hands.
The crisis was precipitated by Tuesday’s arrest on corruption charges of the National Prosecutions Authority’s top investigator in Gauteng, Gerrie Nel at a time when his elite Scorpions unit is reportedly set to pounce on Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi for alleged criminal activities.
Nel was released on bail of R10 000 on Wednesday.
In a statement released on Wednesday night the NPA alleged that the police were so desperate to get Nel behind bars that they defied state policy, lied to the prosecuting authority and refused to accept the opinions of several prosecutors who told them they did not have a case.
In the statement, the NPA expressed alarm over the fact that police had failed to get written permission for Nel to be charged from the acting national director of the NPA, Mokotedi Mpshe, as required by policy directives in the NPA Act.
A senior police source close to Selebi admitted on Wednesday that Nel’s arrest had been an attempt to exert pressure on Mpshe to charge his own men.
He said police were aware that Mpshe was going to decline to prosecute Nel, hence the “Swat-style” swoop on the very man who was involved with the investigations against Selebi.
“We are having a situation where Mpshe (or) the NPA uses its discretion to prosecute or to decline (to prosecute) its own men based on their usefulness to the institution.
“But we (the SAPS) are at the mercy of the same NPA to prosecute cases investigated by us. It’s unfair. The arrest will put public pressure on (Mpshe) to prosecute Nel,” said the source.
Mpshe expressed “concern” and “shock” over Nel’s arrest on Wednesday, making a thinly veiled suggestion that police had acted with malice.
The ANC wants a swift resolution of the crisis, and opposition parties have expressed concern, with some calling for Parliament to intervene.
The ANC will discuss the disbandment of the Scorpions and the restructuring of the NPA at its National Executive Committee lekgotla next week, to which Cabinet ministers, premiers and directors-general are invited.
Mantashe was adamant that such restructuring and the dissolution of the Scorpions, as voted for at the recent ANC conference in Polokwane, should happen within six months.
A senior government official said President Mbeki had under-estimated the security threat posed by the friction between the police and the Scorpions.
“The president’s use of the (Judge Sisi Khampepe) Commission and his suspension of (National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi) Pikoli seems to have had a minimal impact on what now seems to be a serious security threat to this country,” said the official, who declined to be named.
After recommendations by the Khampepe Commission, the Scorpions prosecuting arm is located within the Justice Ministry, while its investigating wing reports to the safety and security minister.
But, said the official, “we are still in the same catastrophe, and Mbeki failed to tackle this”.
Pikoli’s fate is in the hands of former National Assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala, who is heading an inquiry into his fitness to hold office.
Selebi’s fate depends on Mpshe, who has said he will announce his decision on whether to prosecute the police chief before the end of the month.
Mpshe also expressed “serious concern” about the process followed by police in their bid to obtain an arrest warrant for Nel.
And his concern has been echoed by political parties and analysts, who have described the arrest as a witch-hunt.
Selebi’s spokesperson, Sally de Beer, on Wednesday declined to comment on whether the police boss had been made aware of the Nel investigation and arrest before it had been conducted.
The statement released on Wednesday night by the NPA reveals that two weeks after the police had persuaded a magistrate to issue an arrest warrant against Nel, they sent a letter to their liaison in the NPA, advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi, and told him that they had “made progress in the investigation and would approach the NPA when further assistance was required”.
“No mention was made that a warrant had been obtained,” the statement said.
Police investigators had again lied to Mzinyathi when, following media queries about the issuing of the arrest warrant, he contacted them and was told that “they were not aware of any such development, and that when an arrest was imminent, they would inform him and advocate Mpshe”.
The NPA described how the police had repeatedly tried and failed to persuade “several different prosecutors” to apply for an arrest warrant against Nel, all of whom refused “on the basis that there was not sufficient evidence in the docket”.