Q: Why is the national commissioner being given preferential treatment?
A: He is not.
Q: Why wasn’t he arrested and charged with the 12 other SAPS officers?
A: When they were arrested, his matter had not been finalised.
Q: Why?
A: There were still other things Idac (the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption) was looking at, and so they chose a different route to make sure he appears in court, which he will do on April 21.
Q: How strong is the evidence against him?
A: We can only talk about the evidence against everyone in this matter. Idac believes the evidence is enough because they’ve had enough time since 2024 to investigate this.
Q: So why weren’t they ready to arrest and charge the national commissioner in court alongside his colleagues?
A: It is unfortunate, but they just wanted to fix and check certain things before they put him in court.
Q: The others are facing charges of corruption, aren’t they?
A: The general charges are corruption, money laundering and going against the Public Finance Management Act.
Q: Is he facing similarly serious charges?
A: We can only communicate that when they are read to him when he appears.
Q: Would it be fair to assume one of the charges will be violating the PFMA?
A: I don’t want to get into that at the moment, but it is possible.
Q: We know, don’t we, that he repeatedly ignored warnings by the auditors that the Medicare tender process violated the PFMA and that the contract must be cancelled asap?
A: Like I say, we do not want to start prosecuting it in the public space. Once it is read to him, it will be public, and we can take it from there.
Q: Isn’t it already in the public space that he cancelled the contract only after “Cat” Matlala had been paid R50m?
A: There are things that are said in public, but they have to be presented formally in a court of law so that they can be taken further. Let us not take whatever is in the public space and use it now in this process.
Q: The way this has been handled makes it inevitable, doesn’t it?
A: There’s nothing wrong with people speculating, but we have to be mindful that we are the ones prosecuting the matter.
Q: Would you agree that violation of the PFMA is an extremely serious offence?
A: Yes, you must be charged criminally when you violate the PFMA.
Q: Are you concerned that the national commissioner hasn’t been suspended?
A: That is outside my pay grade.
Q: You’re not concerned witnesses may be interfered with and evidence compromised?
A: The NPA’s not concerned witnesses may be interfered with and evidence compromised ?
Q: How strong is your case against the SAPS officers?
A: We were informed by Idac that they have a strong case.
Q: Is it trial ready?
A: It is.
Q: How strong is the case against the national commissioner?
A: We are confident in our case against all of them.
Q: So when he appears in court, you’re confident the case won’t be postponed while the NPA tries to get more evidence?
A: We were assured that the case is trial-ready.
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