Menzi Simelane, the national director of public prosecutions, has “totally dismantled” the successful Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU), say well-placed sources, and removed and redeployed its head, advocate Chris Jordaan SC.
The acclaimed Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) almost went the same way during restructuring by Simelane, said the sources, and its head, Willie Hofmeyr, kept his post only because Justice Minister Jeff Radebe intervened last week.
Hofmeyr is deputy national prosecutions director and head of the independent statutory Special Investigations Unit. Jordaan had been with the SCCU since its inception in 1999.
Simelane has claimed that the restructuring is to promote service delivery, but the commercial crime unit’s conviction rate has never fallen below 92%.
Morale is said to be plummeting at the national prosecuting authority (NPA) and many senior staff are hunting for jobs elsewhere. About 16 legal figures have received notices that they are to be redeployed.
NPA sources said the restructuring of the SCCU was “already done and dusted” by the time Radebe intervened.
From April 1 the SCCU’s name has been changed to the Commercial Crime Component (CCC). Although there used to be a national reporting structure, the unit no longer has a head and its regional offices now report to the provincial directorates of public prosecutions.
It has been split into two, one section dealing with complex commercial-crime cases and the other with “run-of-the mill” cases and general litigation.
Sources complained that the restructuring was ill-conceived and had placed a heavy burden on those responsible for general litigation because there were too few staff.
‘Why has it been split?’
“It’s a practical question. Why was the commercial crime unit not left alone? Why has it been split?” said an official close to the developments, who asked not to be named. “If it’s not broken, why fix it?”
Jordaan has been moved to the NPA’s Pretoria offices and has apparently been unofficially told that he will now be the national coordinator of commercial crime. But sources said he no longer has contact with the unit.
The Mail & Guardian has also learned that Simelane has told Hofmeyr to choose between heading the AFU or the SIU.
NPA sources said they felt Simelane was hell-bent on purging senior managers and implementing restructuring plans at breakneck speed. They described him as a “terrible manager” who had been dogged by controversy since President Jacob Zuma appointed him in December and expressed grave concern about the motivation for the restructuring.
Worries about his leadership peaked in March after he ordered the AFU not to try to seize millions of rands in alleged bribes from arms multinational BAE Systems, held offshore by arms-deal kingpin Fana Hlongwane.
Three weeks ago opposition parties raised strong objections to a five-year NPA strategic plan tabled in Parliament. The plan stated that the AFU had been disbanded and was included as a division in the regional offices.
This week Simelane told the M&G the clause in the “draft strategic plan was an unfortunate drafting error”.
On why he had not consulted Radebe, he said the document had not been finalised.
‘NPA needs to transform itself’
Questioned on the purpose of restructuring, he said: “Your questions seem to suggest that the NPA is fully transformed and therefore there is no longer a need. The idea is furtherest from the truth. To reiterate — the NPA needs to transform itself to meet the needs of society in contributing to the criminal justice system, with a view of enhancing public confidence.
“The structure is being streamlined to ensure a focus on core functions, with experienced prosecutors utilised in the delivery of core services. The aim is to show significant improvement to service delivery.”
Radebe’s spokesperson, Tlali Tlali, said Simelane had explained to the minister that he told Parliament’s justice committee that the strategic plan still needed ministerial approval.
“The minister accepted the national director of public prosecution’s explanation and the bringing of disciplinary proceedings did not arise,” he said.
But sources said there was “guerrilla warfare” at the NPA. Manie de Clercq of the Public Servants’ Association said plans to redeploy three senior NPA advocates appeared to have been put on hold.
“But we haven’t received anything in writing from NPA to say it has withdrawn the redeployments, so we’ll still go through the process of conciliation,” said De Clercq.
Who would have an issue?
South Africa has won international recognition for the way it has implemented the forfeiture of proceeds from crime, so well-placed criminal justice sources insist that there must be hidden agendas behind the “bizarre” schemes to close the old Asset Forfeiture Unit.
AFU figures for 2009-2010 show:
- The value of new restraints — orders for the freezing of physical assets and cash — was R491-million;
- The value of confiscation or forfeiture orders was R184,7-million;
- The value of deposits into the criminal assets recovery account was R51,7-million; and
- Orders in favour of the victims of crime amounted to R52,3-million.
The AFU has been involved in many high-profile cases, including:
- The David King tax fraud case, in which court orders were secured in the United Kingdom and Guernsey to freeze accounts of millions of rands that King allegedly removed from South Africa;
- The Jabulani Mabaso corruption case, in which assets of R191-million were frozen. The state alleges he defrauded the KwaZulu-Natal education department of R200-million; and
- The Schabir Shaik graft case, in which assets of R41-million were frozen.