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Minister Jeff Radebe Picture: Dumisani Sibeko
The ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal that the appointment of Menzi Simelane as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) was unconstitutional and invalid has raised questions about Justice Minister Jeff Radebe’s role in the appointment, as well as his competency in managing the justice portfolio.
Judge Mahomed Navsa’s decision has been widely viewed as nothing short of a national embarrassment.
But while President Jacob Zuma may have made the final decision, the submission by the president and Radebe to the court indicates that Radebe had an overwhelming influence over Zuma’s decisions, which political analyst Prince Mashele said showed that the minister was incompetent.
Political analyst Adam Habib said Radebe had been the weakest minister of justice ever. “His behaviour towards judicial matters has (resulted) in the weakening of the justice system. He is the weakest minister we have ever had post-1994,” said Habib.
He cited Radebe’s attitude and comments regarding the Judicial Service Commission’s interviews with candidates for the position of chief justice, his attitude towards former prosecutions boss Vusi Pikoli and the advice he has given Zuma over the past years regarding crucial national decisions. These, he said, cast aspersions over the minister’s capabilities.
Professor Pierre de Vos described Radebe’s reading of the constitution as “adventurous”.
Radebe said, for example, that the robust debate that accompanied the appointment of Mogoeng Mogoeng as Chief Justice was an affront to and called into question the president’s judgment.
Regarding the invalid appointment of Simelane, Radebe said in his submission to the SCA that when Zuma asked to speak to him about his view that Simelane was the right person to appoint to the position of NDPP, “he indicated that though he had firm views on appointing Simelane, he wished to obtain an opinion from me”.
“[I], as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, gave advice in the form of a full briefing to the president on the appointment of Simelane to the position of Deputy NDPP,” Radebe said.
“In November 2009 when the president sought to appoint Simelane as NDPP, I once again gave him my views on Simelane’s eligibility and told him that I supported his choice of Simelane as NDPP. I stand by the views expressed to the president at the time,” Radebe said in his affidavit.
Habib said that for Radebe to “say he simply fulfilled his duty” was unacceptable as “we know the president’s decision-making has become questionable – especially pertaining to the judiciary and the security cluster, (but) Radebe had to have had the courage to say that he wasn’t the right man for the job.”
On the Ginwala report which called into question Simelane’s competency, Radebe said in his affidavit that Zuma had “specifically sought his views on the finding and recommendations”.
He had studied the Ginwala report to familiarise himself with “the intricacies of the relationship between the national prosecuting authority and my office, and the manner in which the discharge of our separate and collective constitutional obligations were tabled in Parliament”.
Ginwala described Simelane’s conduct during the inquiry as having “left much to be desired”.
– Sunday Tribune
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