'I did not disrespect Pikoli'
2008-06-23 15:49
Johannesburg - Justice Department director general Menzi Simelane has denied treating suspended prosecuting head Vusi Pikoli disrespectfully in insisting he reports on the affairs of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
However, he has conceded that on at least one occasion a contentious matter could have been "dealt with differently".
Simelane was being cross-examined in Johannesburg on Monday in the renewed Ginwala hearings into Pikoli's fitness to hold office.
He has claimed there are six instances showing that Pikoli is not fit for the job. These included the sending of non-representative NPA teams on trips abroad; the delegation of powers within the NPA, and his handling of talks on a proposed merger of the Directorate of Special Investigations (Scorpions) in the police's special investigating unit.
Also at issue were irregularities with the DSO fund used to pay informers, the purchase of a building to accommodate prosecutors; and the merging of the corporate services of the NPA and the justice department.
Pikoli's advocate Wim Trengove accused Simelane on numerous occasions of "presumptuous interference" in areas over which he had no authority at all.
Reporting to Simelane
He also accused Simelane of showing deep disrespect to Pikoli by instructing the NPA head to report to him.
On one occasion, he asked Pikoli to investigate irregularities with the DSO's confidential fund.
" 'Investigate and report to me.' That's the language used by a boss," Trengove contended.
"I don't think it's exclusively used by bosses. I think it's used by anybody," Simelane countered.
He had needed to know the extent of the irregularities for budgetary purposes, Simelane said.
'Pikoli doesn't have to report to me'
"Isn't the right way to ask Pikoli rather than to say to him he should report to you?" asked Trengove.
"I am suggesting to you, you were being disrespectful to the NDPP as head of the NPA.
"You don't instruct people like that and tell them to report to you," he added.
Simelane retorted: "Why would I be disrespectful to Vusi. No, not at all... He doesn't have to report to me, not as a subordinate."
Trengove maintained that Simelane had used the language of an "arrogant boss".
"It's a pity you see it like that. I don't see it like that," said Simelane.
He agreed that both the irregularities with the fund and the investigation into them started before Pikoli took office.
His contention that the irregularities continued even while Pikoli was in office, was based only on media reports, he said.
Building purchase
Simelane also conceded that his allegations, under oath, regarding the NPA's purchase of a building for a prosecutors' office could have been better investigated.
"Are you serious about this complaint?," asked Trengove.
Simelane said he had only later learned that the building had been purchased before Pikoli took office.
"This was simply an accusation you fabricated against Mr Pikoli with no substance at all," Trengove put it to him.
"I think it could have been dealt with differently. I (could) have double-checked the information. I concede," Simelane told the hearings.
Trengove pointed out that in the years Pikoli served as accounting officer for the NPA, it had received unqualified reports from the auditor-general.
This was not the case for the period in which Simelane was the accounting officer.
The hearings will continue until July 4.
- SAPA