President Jacob Zuma now has until April 15 to file his affidavit in response to the DA's application for a review of the withdrawal of corruption charges against him after the National Prosecuting Authority responded on Tuesday.
Willie Hofmeyr, the head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit and a deputy national director of public prosecutions in his 50-page affidavit said that the Thabo Mbeki administration nonchalantly used the NPS as a political tool against Zuma.
Willie Hofmeyr said in the authority's court response to the DA's application for a review of the withdrawal of corruption charges against the current president. Hofmeyr wrote that upon hearing the so-called spy tapes, acting NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe was shocked at the extent of collusion around the case.
"Mpshe was shocked at the cavalier tone and light-hearted manner in which (Leonard) McCarthy and (Bulelani) Ngcuka appeared to regard the NPA as merely a political tool to be placed at the disposal of the Mbeki administration."
Hofmeyr added that McCarthy, at critical points in the investigation against Zuma, discussed it with former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils and took direction from him.
"As far as I was concerned, Kasrils was a confidant with whom McCarthy could discuss strategy about the Zuma prosecution. I believe he also served as an intermediary between McCarthy and Mbeki."
The affidavit is the first part of the NPA's long-awaited answer to the DA's argument that dropping the charges against Zuma six years ago, shortly before the 2009 elections, in a move that eased his path to the presidency, was irrational on Mpshe's part. It was filed in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after a court-imposed deadline of midnight had lapsed.
The documents play up the content of the spy tapes — wire-tapped conversations between McCarthy and Ngcuka, who were respectively head of the Scorpions and former head of the NPA when the decision to press ahead with the case against Zuma was taken.
At issue in their conversations was the timing of the indictment, and whether it should happen before or after the African National Congress's Polokwane conference in December 2007, where the rivalry between Mbeki and Zuma came to a head."
Correctly or incorrectly, they believed that Mbeki's chances of defeating Zuma would be strengthened if the prosecution were to be delayed.
"Ultimately, McCarthy ensured that the prosecution was delayed. He did so for one reason only, to bolster Mbeki's chances of successfully defeating Zuma," Hofmeyr states.
After Mbeki lost the presidency of the ANC to Zuma, McCarthy acted "with haste" to finalise Zuma's prosecution. McCarthy told Ngcuka he wanted to charge him by December 21, 2007 and ordered prosecutor Billy Downer to bring most of the prosecution team back from leave.
James Selfe, the chairman of the Democratic Alliance's federal executive, on Tuesday described Hofmeyr's affidavit as "very hyped".
He said the documents filed in the case, in which Mpshe and Zuma are respondents, nowhere counter the DA's argument that the criminal case against Zuma had been sound.
"If anything their affidavit substantiates the strength of the case against Zuma. If they are saying the timing of the charges was at the behest of Mbeki, my answer would be ‘so what'? They take 159 pages to tell us that," he said.
Selfe said the DA believed Mpshe should have let the matter proceed to court and allowed a judge to decide whether the conversations captured in the spy tapes rendered the case fundamentally flawed.
Willie Hofmeyr, the head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit and a deputy national director of public prosecutions in his 50-page affidavit said that the Thabo Mbeki administration nonchalantly used the NPS as a political tool against Zuma.
Willie Hofmeyr said in the authority's court response to the DA's application for a review of the withdrawal of corruption charges against the current president. Hofmeyr wrote that upon hearing the so-called spy tapes, acting NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe was shocked at the extent of collusion around the case.
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Hofmeyr added that McCarthy, at critical points in the investigation against Zuma, discussed it with former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils and took direction from him.
"As far as I was concerned, Kasrils was a confidant with whom McCarthy could discuss strategy about the Zuma prosecution. I believe he also served as an intermediary between McCarthy and Mbeki."
The affidavit is the first part of the NPA's long-awaited answer to the DA's argument that dropping the charges against Zuma six years ago, shortly before the 2009 elections, in a move that eased his path to the presidency, was irrational on Mpshe's part. It was filed in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after a court-imposed deadline of midnight had lapsed.
The documents play up the content of the spy tapes — wire-tapped conversations between McCarthy and Ngcuka, who were respectively head of the Scorpions and former head of the NPA when the decision to press ahead with the case against Zuma was taken.
At issue in their conversations was the timing of the indictment, and whether it should happen before or after the African National Congress's Polokwane conference in December 2007, where the rivalry between Mbeki and Zuma came to a head."
Correctly or incorrectly, they believed that Mbeki's chances of defeating Zuma would be strengthened if the prosecution were to be delayed.
"Ultimately, McCarthy ensured that the prosecution was delayed. He did so for one reason only, to bolster Mbeki's chances of successfully defeating Zuma," Hofmeyr states.
After Mbeki lost the presidency of the ANC to Zuma, McCarthy acted "with haste" to finalise Zuma's prosecution. McCarthy told Ngcuka he wanted to charge him by December 21, 2007 and ordered prosecutor Billy Downer to bring most of the prosecution team back from leave.
James Selfe, the chairman of the Democratic Alliance's federal executive, on Tuesday described Hofmeyr's affidavit as "very hyped".
He said the documents filed in the case, in which Mpshe and Zuma are respondents, nowhere counter the DA's argument that the criminal case against Zuma had been sound.
"If anything their affidavit substantiates the strength of the case against Zuma. If they are saying the timing of the charges was at the behest of Mbeki, my answer would be ‘so what'? They take 159 pages to tell us that," he said.
Selfe said the DA believed Mpshe should have let the matter proceed to court and allowed a judge to decide whether the conversations captured in the spy tapes rendered the case fundamentally flawed.
