Advocate Menzi Simelane, the last candidate shortlisted to be interviewed for the position of the National Director of Public Prosecutions, on Thursday evening said that the National Prosecuting Authority is a unique institution because it has a significant history.

Most of the issues at the institution are legacy issues, and his vision is to assist the staff so that these issues do not affect their work. Simelane’s shortlisting as a candidate for the top prosecution position in the country comes with much controversy.

The Democratic Party has called for his removal from the shortlisted candidates being interviewed for the role. ActionSA joined the DA in rejecting Simelane’s possible appointment, stating that he was “not a fit and proper candidate,” noting that the justice system urgently requires an “unimpeachable steward” to restore public confidence in the National Prosecuting Authority.

The DA said Simelane has already been found unfit in the past for this office by the Constitutional Court. “It is impossible to overlook that history,” DA spokesperson on Justice and Constitutional Development advocate Glynnis Breytenbach said this week.

She said Simelane’s past appointment as NDPP had been declared unconstitutional as he “lacked the necessary integrity and competence for the job”. “Thirteen years after being removed as head of the NPA following litigation by the DA, Simelane cannot be reinstated,” said Breytenbach.

She pointed out that the Supreme Court of Appeal, and later the Constitutional Court, struck down Simelane’s 2010 appointment, questioning his honesty and integrity. “…(T)hose judgments have never been overturned or softened.

“To make matters worse, he was found guilty of professional misconduct in 2017 for misleading the Ginwala Inquiry, and he now faces a striking-off application from the Johannesburg Bar Council,” she added.

Simelane, meanwhile, on Thursday told the panel that he has for 18 years now tried to clear his name regarding the Ginwala findings. He said the findings were wrong and he hoped the panel would consider this when it considered his application.

The Ginwala Inquiry earlier made pronouncements regarding issues with his honesty, while the Supreme Court of Appeal called his appointment as NDPP in 2009 irrational. The Constitutional Court subsequently also found that he was unfit for the role.

Simelane was appointed as NDPP under former president Jacob Zuma, but his term ended in 2012 when the courts stepped in. Simelane, meanwhile, told the panel that in the Ginwala Report, adverse comments were made against him based on a fundamentally erroneous understanding of his role as the Justice DG at the time. He said he could not appeal these findings, as he did not have the legal standing to do so.

The Johannesburg Society of Advocates, meanwhile, also recommended an application to have him struck from the roll of advocates based on the Ginwala findings. Simelane questioned why this is only happening now, after all these years. He believes it is based on the fact that he has now been shortlisted as a candidate for the NDPP position.

Simelane told the panel that since he has left government and is practicing as an advocate in private practice, he has not done much criminal work. He mainly does administration and constitutional law. Asked about his management style, he said he does not manage people by talking down to them, as he believes in communal communication. This is so that no one is ever left out. But, he added, he holds people to account by setting time frames in place as to when things must be done and how targets must be met.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

Source link