Radebe hasn't seen spy report

2010-03-04 14:45

Cape Town - Justice Minister Jeff Radebe on Thursday declined to comment on the much-awaited intelligence report on the leaking of spy tapes to President Jacob Zuma's lawyer, saying he had yet to see it.

"I have not as yet received the report from the National Director of Public Prosecutions," he said, adding that he met the director, Menzi Simelane, on Tuesday.

"He told me that they are finalising this report for my perusal and that of the president. I cannot comment on it because I have not seen it."

It is in doubt whether the document compiled by former Inspector General of Intelligence Zolile Ngcakani will be made public, shedding light on the developments that helped Zuma escape prosecution for fraud and corruption.

Ngcakani was to examine how secret recordings of phone conversations between former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and former National Prosecutions chief Bulelani Ngcuka came into the hands of Zuma's lawyer Michael Hulley.

The report was passed to the chairperson of Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, Cecil Burgess, at the end of last year.

Burgess is on record as saying it was not up to the committee to make the report public unless it felt this was of public importance. He also said that if this were the case, the JSCI would first have to consult Zuma to see whether anything in it compromised state security.

The National Prosecuting Authority withdrew charges against Zuma on the eve of the 2009 elections, citing the tapes as cause to suspect political interference in the case and paving the way for him to become president.

- SAPA