Ngcuka to claim 'damages'
2003-09-08 21:16
Johannesburg - National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Bulelani Ngcuka is to sue both the 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 SA Broadcasting Corporation interview Maharaj - who headed Operation Vula, the African National Congress 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.
Fax
Both Zuma and Maharaj have been investigated by the Scorpions - the directorate of special operations which falls under Ngcuka.
Zuma filed an application with the Pretoria High Court last week in an effort to obtain the original of an encrypted hand-written 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.
Shortly after 16:00, Ngwema said he believed the state attorneys had met 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.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance has called for Justice Minister Penuell Maduna and Ngcuka to appear before parliament's justice portfolio committee.
DA spokesperson Sheila Camerer said the two had to explain the decision not to prosecute Zuma.
"I today (Monday) requested the committee chairperson (Johnny de Lange) to call for a briefing on this question, as well as on the various court cases and threatened court cases that are a sequel to that decision," she said.
Zuma's intention of reporting Ngcuka to the Public Protector for "gross abuse of public power" - as reported in the weekend press - had not elicited any response from Maduna, she said.
Punitive costs
Zuma was also claiming punitive costs from Ngcuka, the NDPP and the Scorpions.
Ngcuka had announced his intention to sue for defamation.
"The DA believes that these events being played out in the media have had the damaging effect of undermining the administration of justice, and public perceptions of the judicial process in our country."
"You have the extraordinary situation where ANC bigwigs who have been charged or implicated in charges of corruption, or who are related to those so implicated or charged, are publicly issuing defamatory attacks on the NDPP and his department and are openly flouting the sub judice and contempt of court rules," she said.
Therefore, parliament should inquire from Maduna and Ngcuka why the latter failed to prosecute Zuma, thereby leaving Ngcuka and the national prosecuting authority open to legal action from Zuma, and what further steps if any, were contemplated by the NPA, Camerer said.
- SAPA