Jonisayi Maromo|Published5 hours agoWatch VideoPaul O’Sullivan narrates how Jackie Selebi case, the Mbeki–Zuma feud undermined policing

Former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, as Parliament hears testimony alleging that law enforcement structures were used during their feud in an attempt to prevent Zuma from ascending to the presidency. Former police reservist Paul O’Sullivanhas told Parliament that former national police commissionerJackie Selebiflouted the South African Police Service Act by simultaneously serving as a senior African National Congress (ANC) politician while leading the police. Testifying before Parliament’s ad hoc committee probing alleged interference, corruption and misconduct within the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the broader law enforcement apparatus, O’Sullivan said Selebi’s role as a member of the ANC National Executive Committee directly contravened legislation prohibiting police officials from active political involvement.

“Part of the problem is the Police Service Act makes it clear that no police official may be an active politician. At the timeJackie Selebi was the commissioner of the police, he was also a member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC. So now suddenly the rules of the Police Service Act were being flouted,” O’Sullivan said.

He told the committee that this breach of the law had far-reaching consequences for policing and criminal justice, particularly during the period of intense political rivalry between former presidentThabo Mbekiand his deputy and successorJacob Zuma. O’Sullivan told the committee that the political feud between former president Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, which came to a head in the run-up to the ANC’s decisive 2007 Polokwane conference, created conditions in which law enforcement and prosecutorial processes were allegedly used in an attempt to prevent Zuma from ascending to the presidency in the period between 2005 and 2008. O’Sullivan said the feud created fertile ground for political interference in criminal investigations, especially at a time when thenow-disbandedScorpionswere investigating high-level corruption cases.

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“Not only that. You have heard of the so-called spy tapes. The spy tapes make it clear that there was a concerted effort on the part of certain persons, one of them being the then head of the Scorpions, a chap by the name ofLeonard McCarthy,” O’Sullivan said.

“The spy tapes show his conversation with a person by the name of Andre Pienaar who is based in London. They used code words, but it demonstrated their plan to get Selebi off the hook and get Zuma on a hook.” The so-called spy tapes later became central to legal challenges involving Zuma, who argued that political interference had tainted the timing of corruption charges against him. The recordings were cited when charges against Zuma were controversially withdrawn in 2009, a decision later overturned by the courts.

The recorded conversations were cited as the basis for withdrawing fraud and corruption charges against Zuma shortly before he was sworn in as president in 2009.At the time, acting National Director of Public ProsecutionsMokotedi Mpshesaid the recordings indicated a political conspiracyagainst Zuma, rendering the prosecution untenable. O’Sullivan said the recordings also reflected hostility towards him as an investigator.

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