Hofmeyr wants public protector job as his current ‘three hours a day’ NPA gig isn’t engaging

Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Willie Hofmeyr told Parliament’s ad hoc committee set up to select a new public protector that he was anxious to put his knowledge to good use at the chapter nine institution.

Hofmeyr’s history at the Special Investigations Unit and the Asset Forfeiture Unit lent themselves in his favour in his bid to become the next public protector after the roundly lauded seven-year term of Thuli Madonsela.

However‚ his proximity to matters such as the decision to drop charges against President Jacob Zuma in 2009 and current National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Shaun Abraham’s decision to appeal a high court ruling on the spy tapes matter at the Constitutional Court have placed large targets on his back.

Reports also emerged that the NPA was investigating Hofmeyr over his conduct during the attachment of assets belonging to strip club owner Andrew Phillips. Hofmeyr has dismissed this as a political smear campaign.

Asked by African Christian Democratic Party member Steve Swart why he wanted to leave his current job‚ Hofmeyr said he was frustrated with the lack of engaging work in his current job‚ where he worked only three hours per day.

Hofmeyr said his knowledge of the Office of the Public Protector was unique‚ as he was an MP involved in the processes which drafted the laws around the public protector’s powers.

He said he made a point of distancing politics from his work. He said he allowed his African National Congress (ANC) membership to lapse in the early 2000s after ANC members he “knew very well” began to face accusations of serious crime and corruption.

“If were going to fight criminals that are very rich and have lots of money we need to fight fire with fire‚” he said.