TACKLING ANC stalwarts Jackie Selebi and Jacob Zuma was just part of the job, said former National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli this week.
He was speaking at the Daily Dispatch Dialogues in a full-to-capacity Guild Theatre in East London on Tuesday on the launch of his book My Second Initiation.
In the book, he gives details of events leading to the NPA’s decision to charge Zuma, the authority’s decision to charge then police commissioner and head of Interpol Selebi, and life growing up in “Blawa”, a township name for New Brighton in Port Elizabeth.
He details how he defied his mother’s advice not to take the position of national director of public prosecutions, a position left vacant by his own comrade Bulelani Ngcuka, who left under a dark cloud.
Political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana, who was sitting alongside him on stage, asked if he was not afraid to do what he did – defying then president Thabo Mbeki by charging Selebi, and charging an ANC deputy president Pikoli said he was not.
When further asked by a member of the audience if he feared for his life, he said if anybody wanted to kill him, he was not scared. “It’s okay. So what after that?” because everyone is going to die ultimately.
Pikoli was fired after charging Selebi, an ally of Mbeki’s, over his involvement with convicted drug lord Glenn Agliotti and while pushing for Zuma to answer corruption charges.
He said he “had to do what I had to do” which included disobeying unlawful instructions.
Asked what he would have done if Mbeki had insisted he not go after Selebi, rather to go after Zuma only, he said: “Being a national director, my job is to deal with issues of crime fighting, irrespective of who is involved.”
He also called on prosecutors to always stick to the call for national duty by defending the country’s Constitution and not be party loyalists.
Pikoli said his story was a story that had to be told. “Generations to come should be able to at least learn a little bit out of this book. About how to treat state institutions,” added Pikoli, who said it should never be said he was a member of the ANC for over 30 years, as he was still a member of the party. — aphiwed@dispatch.co.za
Pikoli tells audience he did what he had to do
He was speaking at the Daily Dispatch Dialogues in a full-to-capacity Guild Theatre in East London on Tuesday on the launch of his book My Second Initiation.
In the book, he gives details of events leading to the NPA’s decision to charge Zuma, the authority’s decision to charge then police commissioner and head of Interpol Selebi, and life growing up in “Blawa”, a township name for New Brighton in Port Elizabeth.
He details how he defied his mother’s advice not to take the position of national director of public prosecutions, a position left vacant by his own comrade Bulelani Ngcuka, who left under a dark cloud.
Political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana, who was sitting alongside him on stage, asked if he was not afraid to do what he did – defying then president Thabo Mbeki by charging Selebi, and charging an ANC deputy president Pikoli said he was not.
When further asked by a member of the audience if he feared for his life, he said if anybody wanted to kill him, he was not scared. “It’s okay. So what after that?” because everyone is going to die ultimately.
Pikoli was fired after charging Selebi, an ally of Mbeki’s, over his involvement with convicted drug lord Glenn Agliotti and while pushing for Zuma to answer corruption charges.
He said he “had to do what I had to do” which included disobeying unlawful instructions.
Asked what he would have done if Mbeki had insisted he not go after Selebi, rather to go after Zuma only, he said: “Being a national director, my job is to deal with issues of crime fighting, irrespective of who is involved.”
He also called on prosecutors to always stick to the call for national duty by defending the country’s Constitution and not be party loyalists.
Pikoli said his story was a story that had to be told. “Generations to come should be able to at least learn a little bit out of this book. About how to treat state institutions,” added Pikoli, who said it should never be said he was a member of the ANC for over 30 years, as he was still a member of the party. — aphiwed@dispatch.co.za
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