The Democratic Alliance (DA) has warned that the ongoing process to appoint a new National Director of Public Prosecutions has gone badly off the rails.
The panel set up to advise the President has chosen to interview Adv Menzi Simelane, a man already found unfit for this very office by South Africa’s highest court.
It is impossible to overlook that history.
The Supreme Court of Appeal, and later the Constitutional Court, struck down Simelane’s 2010 appointment on grounds that went to the heart of his honesty and integrity. Those judgments have never been overturned or softened.
To make matters worse, he was found guilty of professional misconduct in 2017 for misleading the Ginwala Inquiry, and he now faces a striking-off application from the Johannesburg Bar Council.
It is hard to imagine a more serious cloud over a candidate.
Yet the panel insists it is only interviewing people who meet the minimum requirements. Under the National Prosecuting Authority Act, “fit and proper” is a minimum legal requirement. The claim by the Panel collapses the moment Simelane’s name appears on the shortlist.
If he is treated as qualifying, then the process is irrational. And if the process is irrational, it is unlawful.
On 7 December, our attorneys wrote to the panel seeking reasons for Simelane’s inclusion: how did they conclude that he meets the minimum legal threshold, and did they consider the Bar Council application? The panel did not so much as acknowledge the letter.
On 9 December, the DA informed the President that this silence leaves us no choice. Any recommendation that comes from this process carries the same legal defect. If the President appoints anyone from the panel’s recommendations, the DA will approach the court to interdict that appointment.
We deserve a leader with credibility, independence, and courage. Not a re-run of a constitutional disaster.