Ngcuka to sue Maharaj

2003-09-08 14:40

Pretoria - National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Bulelani Ngcuka is to sue both City Press and former transport minister Mac Maharaj over allegations that he had spied for the apartheid government.

Ngcuka would claim damages for defamation from the Sunday paper and Maharaj, said NDPP spokesperson Sipho Ngwema.

The amount had not yet been determined, he said.

City Press reported on Sunday that the African National Congress in exile investigated Ngcuka in the late 1980s to establish whether he was an apartheid spy.

"Documents leaked to City Press this week by a senior investigative journalist, which are said to have been sourced from the National Intelligence Agency... database, identify the head of the [NDPP] as possibly, but not conclusively, an apartheid police spy nicknamed 'Agent RS452'," the newspaper reported.

In an SABC interview Maharaj - who headed Operation Vula, the ANC's plan to overthrow the apartheid government - confirmed the allegation, saying he had seen the intelligence report himself.

He said deputy president Jacob Zuma would also have known about the report, because he was the ANC's head of intelligence at the time.

Both Zuma and Maharaj have been investigated by the Scorpions - the directorate of special operations which falls under Ngcuka.

Fax

Zuma filed an application with the Pretoria High Court last week in an effort to obtain the original of an encrypted handwritten fax which allegedly implicates him in a R1m bribery scam linked to the country's multi-billion rand arms deal.

Judge President Bernard Ngoepe gave the respondents - the NDPP, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Scorpions - until 16:00 on Monday to file affidavits in answer to those on which Zuma bases his application.

By lunchtime on Monday, Ngwema said the answering affidavits had not yet been filed, but this would be done before the deadline.

Zuma has until 16:00 on Thursday to file responding affidavits, and the hearing has provisionally been scheduled for next Monday.

Last week counsel for the respondents asked Ngoepe for an order prohibiting the publication of either set of affidavits before the hearing started.

Ngoepe refused, but said anyone who did so could be held liable for defamation or contempt of court.

- SAPA