Goodbye Rule of Law, hallo national security?

It suddenly struck me this morning that we might be living through another HIV/AIDS denialist moment. Has the President, in his all-knowing wisdom, decided that his Police Chief (who has admitted to a friendship with a confessed murderer “finish and klaar”) is being framed by the Dark Lord Sauron or other forces hell bent on destroying the National Democratic Revolution, the ANC and the masses of our people that it leads?

Once one is armed with such a belief, one would be honour bound to rectify the situation by firing the head of the National Prosecuting Authority and ensuring the the travesty of justice is not perpetuated.

This shock revelation came to me as I read the terms of reference for the Frene Ginwala enquiry. The terms of reference cover two broad areas: the fitness of Pikoli to hold office and the breakdown of the working relationship between him and Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Bridgette Mabandla. Accoring to government spokesperson Themba Maseko:

The terms question whether Pikoli, when deciding to prosecute offenders, sufficiently regarded "the nature and extent of the threats posed by organised crime to the national security of the republic". They also question whether Pikoli, when he granted immunity from prosecution or entered into plea-bargain arrangements with people involved with organised crime, regarded "public interests and the national security interest".

Now, we know that national security concerns is the last refuge of scoundrels. Does President Robert Mugabe not foam at the mouth about national security every time someone complains that they have no bread to eat? Did the apartheid government not suppress every embarrassing bit of information in the name of national security. Is George Bush and Dick Cheney not now allowing people to be tortured in the name of national security?

It is a very clever move to try and make the enquiry about national security, because it will allow Ginwala to have some or most of the enquiry behind closed doors, thus allowing a stitch-up without us knowing about it. And if we complain about a lack of information, a government spokesperson (because His Royal Highness will not deem to speak to us mere mortals about such a trivial matter) will whisper “national security” and shake his head at us for endangering the life of the nation.

The thing is: the terms of reference deal with legally irrelevant matters that should have no bearing on whether Adv. Pikoli may be fired or not. It is true that the National Prosecuting Authority is not independent and must consult with the Minister and must formulate prosecutorial policies in conjunction with the Minister.

However, this does not mean that the Minister (or the President) may interfere with the day to day running of the prosecuting authority or that either of them has to be consulted or must give approval for prosecutorial decisions – including decisions about who to plea bargain with and whether to prosecute the National Director.

In a democracy like ours based on a respect for the Rule of Law, no one should be considered to be above the law. This means the prosecuting authority is required to make decisions on who to investigate and who to prosecute based on the pre-announced policy guidelines agreed to with the government of the day, and not based on who that person is, what they stand for or who they know.

It is therefore not surprising that section 179(4) of the Constitution explicitly states that “national legislation must ensure that the prosecuting authority exercises its functions without fear, favour or prejudice”. If reasonably possible, the relevant legislation must therefore be interpreted in such a way that it would protect the NPA from interference by the Minster or the President in any individual prosecutorial decision – including decisions to charge the Police Chief or to give indemnity to the police chiefs self-confessed murderer friends to testify against him.

The National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998 strikes a fine balance between the need to uphold the Rule of Law, on the one hand, and the need to ensure that the NPA is political accountable, on the other. While confirming that the Minister of Justice has a duty to exercise final responsibility over the NPA, the Act envisages that this responsibility will be exercised by requiring the NPA to provide the Minister with information about the decisions taken by the National Director and the reason for such decisions.

The law makes clear that President Mbeki cannot fire Adv. Pikoli because of an “irretrievable breakdown of trust” between the Minister and the National Director. It seems to me there is also nothing in the act that allows the President to fire the National Director for making decisions that the President thinks is not good for national security. We are not paying the President to second-guess the decisions of the National Director and he has no power to second-guess the Director.

As we have seen before with the HIV/Aids debacle, the President is not infallible. No matter how certain he may be of his own view, he may well be wrong. It is exactly because Presidents often think they know everything and ought to be able to decide on everything that we have Constitutions with checks and balances that prevents Presidents from interfering in the way President Mbeki seems to want to interfere now.

If the President is allowed to get away with firing the National Director for vague and unspecified "national security" concerns, we are on our way to a Putin style "democracy" in which His Royal Highness has the final say in everything important - including who gets investigated and charged and who not. And then, well, good by Rule of Law and hallo to a national security state.

Frene Ginwala: independent?

Frene Ginwala yesterday defended her appointment by President Thabo Mbeki to investigate whether there were legal grounds to fire the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli, saying that it was not a problem that she happened to be a member of the National Working Committee of the ANC, the party just co-incidentally headed by the same President Mbeki. Business Day reports:

One of the problems we have in this country is the view that a committed politician cannot be independent and cannot be impartial,” Ginwala said. The suggestion that politicians always put party interests before national ones was very “damaging” not only for the country but for the image of politicians.

Ginwala pointed out that she refused to resign from the ANC when she was appointed speaker. She challenged those demanding she did so to lay on the table any decision she took that was motivated by party political interests.

Those of us who remember her role in emasculating the arms deal investigation of Scopa just as it was gathering steam may find it difficult to keep a straight face when confronted by Ginwala's challenge. Of course the irony is that Ms Ginwala has built up a reputation as quite an independent minded person, which was why she was fired as Speaker.

This could either be interpreted as showing that she will be fearless and will not hesitate to make a finding that would embarrass the leader of her party, or conversely that she would have learnt her lesson after being fired and that she would thus now toe the party line at all cost.

The point is that no matter what she does, there will remain a reasonable suspicion that she could not possibly be impartial, given her political commitments. This means the investigation is probably fatally flawed from the start as those who disagree with its findings will all point to her membership of the NSC to show why her conclusions were wrong and biased.

The relevant provision of the National Prosecuting Authority Act actually provides the President with wide powers to appoint anyone he deems fit to investigate this matter. He is therefore within his rights to appoint Ginwala. He could have appointed Ronald kevin Roberts if he had wanted to. (Imagine what a wonderful but macabre show that would have been!)

But the point is that it is imperative that the process is respected. The NDPP fulfills a vital role in our democracy and removing him from office should be a last step which should be undertaken in a way that would leave no reasonable suspicion that he was fired to protect corrupt friends and comrades. Frene Ginwala will find it difficult to convince any of us that she is the person to deliver such a credible investigation.

President Mbeki owes us an explanation

The suspension by President Thabo Mbeki of Vusi Pikoli, the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), is a potentially earth-shattering event for our democracy. In the present political climate in which suspicions thrive and every action by the President will rightly or wrongly be viewed as a move in the ongoing succession battle, the Presidential interference in the administration of justice must be deeply worrying.

The Prosecuting Authority is a creature of the Constitution, which requires that it exercises its functions “without fear, favour or prejudice”. In other words, it is constitutionally bound to act independently and not to show any political or other bias in its day-to-day work.

However, this constitutional independence is not absolute. The National Director must formulate a prosecuting policy in concurrence with the Minister of Justice and the Minister also exercises final authority over the prosecuting authority. This means that the prosecuting authority must set policy guidelines in accordance with the policy positions of the government of the day, but must otherwise operate free from interference by either the Minister or the President.

In the event that either the Minister or the President is not happy with the decisions taken by the National Director, or where they fight and disagree with him, neither of them have the legal right to fire him. He is entitled to tell them to go to hell if he wants to.

This is clear from the National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998, which limits the power of the President provisionally to suspend the National Director or to remove him from office. The President can only remove the National Director from office for:

• misconduct;
• on account of ill health;
• on account of incapacity;
• or on account of the fact that he is no longer a fit and proper person.

The clear implication is therefore that the President can only suspend the National Director if he has a reasonable suspicion that one of the factors set out above are present. The President then has to institute an inquiry aimed at establishing the existence of at least one of the objective facts set out above. Parliament must then endorse the existence of one of these factors and approve the removal from office before it can become final.

It is therefore deeply troubling that the statement issued by the Presidency makes no mention of incapacity, ill health or misconduct, but merely claims that there has been an irretrievable breakdown in the working relationship between the National Director and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Brigitte Mabandla.

The law makes clear that President Mbeki cannot fire Mr. Pikoli because of such a breakdown of trust. Morever, to fire Mr. Pikoli because he is not “fit and proper person” – also used in the Constitution as one of the reasons for impeaching a judge – would be difficult to do because the term has a restrictive meaning and suggest at least that the person targeted has done something illegal or extremely dishonest.

This means the only possible reason for the suspension and the possible firing of Mr. Pikoli is that he has been guilty of misconduct. For this to stick legally, the President will have to show that Mr. Pikoli had failed to follow the provisions of the enabling act and had, for example, failed to furnish the Minister with information about the exercise of his powers as required by section 33 of the Act.

In the absence of such proof we would be entitled to think that the President has overstepped his legal powers and has interfered with the administration of justice for political reasons. If it is correct that the President wants to fire Mr. Pikoli because the latter has not co-operated with the police to allow the Scorpions to report to the Minister of Safety and Security, Mr Mbeki might not have a legal leg to stand on.

This is because the National Prosecuting Authority Act has not yet been amended and there is therefore no legal duty on Mr. Pikoli to obey instructions to deal differently with the Scorpions as there is no legal basis for such an instruction. As an independent institution the prosecuting authority should not take instructions from the President, the Minister of the Commissioner of Police.

The statement from the Presidency suggests that the President and the Minster do not understand or support this important constitutional principle and believe that Mr. Pikoli has a duty to take orders from them. This is unfortunate as it creates the impression that the President and the Minister is interfering in, and thus undermining, the administration of justice in this country.

In any event, the cryptic announcement of the Presidency leaves open more questions than answers. The President owes it to the country to take us into his confidence and tell us the real reason for the suspension. If he fails to do that, most reasonable people will have good reason to suspect that he is abusing his power for political gain and that the whole saga is in some way or another related to the succession battle in the ANC.