The senior investigator probing corruption allegations against South Africa's top policeman has been arrested amid concerns that internal political tensions are leading to a standoff between the country's elite anti-graft unit and police.
Gerrie Nel was arrested on Tuesday at his Pretoria home on charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice. He was granted bail of 10,000 rand (US$1,500) in the Pretoria magistrates court on Wednesday.
Nel, regional head of the special crime-fighting body known as the Scorpions, was leading the investigation into national police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Mokotedi Mpshe, acting head of the National Prosecuting Authority, which oversees the Scorpions, said he was shocked and concerned at the police action.
He told Talk Radio 702 that the charges related to offenses allegedly committed by Nel between 2004 and 2005 and that his arrest would not affect the Selebi inquiry.
Selebi, who heads the drive to bring down murder and rape in one of the world's most crime-ridden countries and currently holds the largely ceremonial post of president of Interpol, is accused of corruption, fraud and racketeering. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Last year President Thabo Mbeki suspended the head of the prosecuting authority, Vusi Pikoli, soon after Nel obtained a warrant for Selebi's arrest. The warrant was later withdrawn amid accusations that Mbeki was protecting Selebi, a close ally.
Mpshe has been under mounting pressure to disclose the authority's decision on whether Selebi will be charged. In the radio interview he said the decision would be revealed before the end of the month.
But now there are concerns of political interference delaying action against Selebi. The opposition African Christian Democratic Party said it hoped Nel's arrest would not "intimidate" the prosecuting authority from proceeding against Selebi.
Dianne Kohler Barnard from the Democratic Alliance said Nel's arrest was a "witch hunt to protect Selebi."
She said she was concerned that Nel had been arrested while Selebi remained free.
"This arrest gives the impression that the wheels of justice seem to turn much faster in Nel's case, yet drag on forever with Selebi," she said.
Mbeki has also been accused of using the authority in his battle with his former deputy Jacob Zuma, who is due to stand trial in August.
Charges of corruption, money laundering, fraud and racketeering were laid against Zuma, a week after he trounced Mbeki in the race for the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) last month.
Zuma allies accuse prosecutors of "Hollywood-style operations" and claim he has been singled out unfairly over his alleged involvement in a multimillion dollar arms deal scandal.
The Scorpions have been at the center of a dispute between the Justice Department, which the prosecuting authority falls under, and the police over who should control their activities. Police officials have complained Scorpions investigators were overstepping their mandate and infringing police territory.
The ANC decided at their conference last month that the unit should be moved from the authority to the police in a move that has been widely criticized. It was unclear when this would go into effect.
"The sooner the ongoing battle between the Scorpions and the police is resolved, the better it will be for South Africa," said Patricia de Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
RIGHTS FEARS: A protester said Beijing would use the embassy to catch and send Hong Kongers to China, while a lawmaker said Chinese agents had threatened Britons Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday protested at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns. The new embassy — if approved by the British government — would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe,” one lawmaker said earlier. Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents.” China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to
‘IMPOSSIBLE’: The authors of the study, which was published in an environment journal, said that the findings appeared grim, but that honesty is necessary for change Holding long-term global warming to 2°C — the fallback target of the Paris climate accord — is now “impossible,” according to a new analysis published by leading scientists. Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper appears in the journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development and concludes that Earth’s climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought. Compounding the crisis, Hansen and colleagues argued, is a recent decline in sunlight-blocking aerosol pollution from the shipping industry, which had been mitigating some of the warming. An ambitious climate change scenario outlined by the UN’s climate