THE appointment of Menzi Simelane as National Director of Public
Prosecutions (NDPP) is not surprising given the inauspicious circumstances under
which President Jacob Zuma assumed office.
To appoint someone whom the government-appointed
Ginwala Inquiry made very serious and damning credibility findings against is
rewarding him for a bad job well done – the Scorpions were dissolved and Vusi
Pikoli was fired.
It is also deplorable to settle a court case regarding Pikoli’s
employment and then hardly five days later to offer the job to his staunchest
critic.
I hope Simelani will without question submit himself to the
authority and control of the director-general of the justice department in the
execution of his duties.
A longer term view of Zuma’s decision in the appointment of
Simelane as NDPP must also not be forgotten.
To ensure that the dropped charges
against him are never revived he definitely needs a dependable cadre of the
movement as the NDPP.
We must also brace ourselves for a wave of politically motivated
criminal prosecutions of the politically vulnerable and unconnected.
This will
come under the cloak of fighting crime and corruption in order to take focus
away from the obscene lack of ethics and morality in our political lives.
The ominous signs are there already as dirt is being dug up
against selected former cadres or those who have fallen out of favour.
Also
remember the tripartite alliance is perennially in election mode.
The silence of law organisations such as the Black Lawyers
Association and the National Association of Democratic Lawyers on this
appointment is alarming.
Moses Matsimbi, Pretoria