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Masutha tells NPA to
improve its image
Justice Minister Mike
Masutha has called on NPA managers to stop public bickering and told
journalists no decision has been made on Mxolisi Nxasana.
Justice and Correctional
Services Minister Michael Masutha has called on senior National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA) managers to stop public bickering and focus on improving the
agency’s image.
Masutha also revealed
that no decision has been taken as yet regarding the future of embattled
national director of public prosecutions (NDPP), Mxolisi Nxasana.
Masutha told journalists
on Monday that he had been in liaison with President Jacob Zuma’s office
about Nxasana, but a decision had not yet been taken by the president on
what is the appropriate course of action.
Former justice minister
Jeff Radebe reportedly instructed Nxasana to resign a few days before Zuma’s
new Cabinet was announced. Nxasana had apparently not been given a security
clearance because of past brushes with the law. He has refused to resign. In
terms of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, the president has powers to
initiate an inquiry and if needs be to instruct the suspension of the NDPP.
Masutha said Zuma’s ill
health was not helping in expediting the Nxasana matter. “No action has been
taken or decided on so far … that matter is still very much at hand. You
will be aware that the president has not been well which has also not been
very helpful in expediting the matter.”
Masutha, who has been in
office for just two weeks, said he brought forward his “meet and greet”
session with the NPA management to Monday because of “the widely publicised
challenges at management level at the NPA that have been reported upon over
the past week or two”.
“In the light of that,
we have implored colleagues at NPA [especially] at senior management level
to desist on indulging in any activity that pre-empts, interferes or in any
way disrupts the processes that I’ve just outlined in processing this
matter.” Masutha said those officials who have authority to take
disciplinary steps against other have also been told to desist from doing
so.
‘Witch-hunts’
He added that
if the “media reports of the past weekend were anything to go by, they
pointed to a situation at the NPA which characterises witch-hunts, plots and
so on”.
“We are not necessarily
restricting or restraining the people’s right to a freedom of expression nor
are we seeking to limit the media’s right to media freedom. We really are
saying, all of us should focus more on assisting the institution to achieve
and maintain a level of tranquility especially at management level,” he
said.
He described the meeting
with the NPA senior managers as “a very amicable, frank and honest
engagement”.
“I met first with the
NDPP to accord him and to emphasise the point that Mr Nxasana is still very
much the NDPP and head of the institution and still holds the whole
authority relating to the running of the institution.
“My reading [of the NPA
environment] is that everyone was comfortable and we emphasised that it was
not an intervention but an interaction,” he said.
Masutha said no time
frames had been set to deal with the Nxasana matter, especially due to
Zuma’s ill health. He added that there were other legal issues they were
examining and re-examining so that a decision agreed on as a course of
action will be the fairest, just, legally and constitutionally correct.
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