10 December 2011

Mbeki not taking it quietly

DOMINIC MAHLANGU

| 08 December, 2011 23:35

Former president Thabo Mbeki has hit back at Special Investigating Unit boss Willem Heath, demanding evidence to substantiate his damning allegations.

Legal representatives for Mbeki's foundation said they had asked the government for evidence that would support Heath's assertion that Mbeki, while in office, initiated the corruption and rape allegations against his vice-president, Jacob Zuma, in the run-up to the ANC's 2007 elective conference.

Mbeki's spokesman, Mukhoni Ratshitanga, said yesterday that the former president was "seeking clarity" from the government about Heath's comments, but there was no consideration of litigation at this stage.

Zuma, who appointed Heath only last week, said on Wednesday that he would seek legal advice on the SIU boss's comments about Mbeki from Justice Minister Jeff Radebe.

Zuma said that he would look into whether the former judge held "any grudges".

Mbeki has kept out of local politics since being removed from office in 2008 but it appears that Heath's statements have got to him.

Ratshitanga said the allegations about Mbeki were " grave, more so because they are made by the head of the Special Investigating Unit, a critical organ of our criminal justice system, and suggest illegal conduct on the part of a former head of state and government".

Mbeki's office said he "categorically rejects all the allegations Heath made" and that his statements were "devoid of all truth".

In a candid interview with the City Press newspaper at the weekend, Heath also said that Zuma's former financial adviser, convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik, and senior ANC member Tony Yengeni, were "sacrificed" in the arms deal investigation.

He said Judge Hilary Squires' judgment in the Shaik corruption trial was flawed and there had not been sufficient evidence to convict.

Mbeki's office said Heath did not seem to have "much regard for the decisions of the courts, including the Constitutional Court".

The office said the Supreme Court of Appeal found no basis for the allegation of political interference by Mbeki, or by his cabinet, in the Zuma corruption case.

The Supreme Court of Appeal said that the allegations of political interference were "irrelevant . gratuitous and based on suspicion and not on fact".

Heath headed the SIU until 2001, when the Constitutional Court ruled that he could no longer run the unit.

Heath - whose reappointment was praised by the Presidency last week - has been vocal about the pain he felt when forced to relinquish his SIU post 10 years ago.

Mbeki, who was president at the time, refused to grant Heath an early retirement package and he was forced to resign as a judge.

- Additional reporting Sapa

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