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Ginwala probe open to public
20/03/2008 10:38 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Hearings of the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry into suspended national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli will be open to the public, the commission said on Wednesday.
The commission was scheduled to hear argument from May 5 to May 7 from the government and Pikoli about his fitness to hold office, said spokesperson Lawson Naidoo.
"The hearings will be open to the public. Some matters which are pending, sub-judice or by law not open to public disclosure will be heard in camera," he said.
The dates for argument were finalised in a meeting between the commission, the government and Pikoli on Wednesday.
They were requested to provide the commission with written submissions on their arguments.
The government has until Friday, April 4, to make this submission and Pikoli will have to do the same by April 11.
President Thabo Mbeki suspended Pikoli on September 24 and the former speaker of the National Assembly, Frene Ginwala, was subsequently appointed on September 28 to head the inquiry.
At the time, Mbeki cited a breakdown of the relationship between Pikoli and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla as the reason for the NPA head's suspension.
National security
The commission's terms of reference cover two broad areas, namely Pikoli's fitness to hold office and the working relationship between Pikoli and Mabandla.
The terms of reference include questions on whether, when deciding to prosecute offenders, Pikoli took sufficient regard "to the nature and extent of the threats posed by organised crime to the national security of the Republic".
The terms also question whether, when he granted immunity from prosecution or entered into plea-bargain arrangements with people involved with organised crime, "he took due regard to the public interests and the national security interest".
At the end of the inquiry, Ginwala will submit a report to Mbeki who will decide how and when he will make the findings public.
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