Hofmeyr seeks Zuma tapes

2012-01-19 12:07

Johannesburg - Willie Hofmeyr, the former head of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), has written to the Office for Interception Centres asking for its help in obtaining a copy of the 2007 tapes that led to corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma being dropped, The Times reported on Tuesday.

In a confidential letter to the centre's director Brian Koopedi, dated November 2, Hofmeyr asks for confirmation that the centre still has recordings of the intercepted telephone conversations.

They allegedly demonstrate secret connivance between Hofmeyr's axed former deputy Faiek Davids and former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy.

"I would appreciate your guidance on how the SIU can obtain a copy of the recording. I appreciate that an intercept of this nature will be classified," Hofmeyr wrote.

Davids was fired by Hofmeyr in November 2010 because of what was described as a breakdown in trust and in their professional relationship.

Hofmeyr's letter follows a ruling by Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) commissioner Bart Ford on September 27 last year.

Spy tapes and intercepts

He found that the Zuma spy tapes and intercepts of the conversations between Davids and McCarthy were obtained in contravention of the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act.

The CCMA matter related to Davids' sacking.

Hofmeyr has lodged an application with the Johannesburg Labour Court to have Ford's ruling reviewed and set aside.

During the CCMA hearing, Hofmeyr said he and National Prosecuting Authority advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi had listened to tapes given to them by Zuma's lawyer Michael Hulley in 2009, but that they did not receive copies.

The Times reported that central to the recordings was a telephone conversation Davids was alleged to have had with McCarthy about the ANC's leadership battle. That conversation led to Davids' sacking.

In the run-up to the dropping of charges against Zuma, his allies claimed that the corruption charges were a conspiracy to take him out of the running for presidency.

- SAPA