Parliament - Parliament's ad hoc committee, tasked with reviewing President Kgalema Motlanthe's decision to dismiss former National Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Vusi Pikoli, got underway this week.
Parliament received notification from President Motlanthe about his decision to remove Advocate Pikoli from his position in December and it is now required to consider and pronounce on the President's decision.
The 22-member Joint Ad-hoc Committee, which is meeting this week, was set up to consider the President's decision and thereafter advise the Houses of Parliament on whether Advocate Pikoli should be restored to office or not.
The committee hopes to table its final report on his dismissal later this month. And thereafter the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces is expected to vote on the matter.
Advocate Pikoli is expected to testify before the committee next Tuesday, while the presidency will do so on Wednesday.
Parliament decided to establish the committee to ensure a more involved internal process. Normally the matter would simply be referred to plenary sessions of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces.
President Kgalema Motlanthe announced his decision to relieve Advocate Pikoli of his duties after Dr Frene Ginwala released the Report of Enquiry into Advocate Pikoli's fitness to hold office last year.
The President was required to consider Dr Ginwala's recommendations in her report and make a final decision on whether or not Advocate Pikoli was fit and proper to continue to hold the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions.
Adv Pikoli was suspended by former President Thabo Mbeki on 23 September 2007 due to an "irretrievable breakdown" in the relationship between himself and the former Minister of Justice Brigitte Mabandla, among other reasons.
Former Speaker of Parliament, Dr Ginwala, was subsequently called on to investigate the various allegations and counter-allegations submitted by both parties.
President Motlanthe highlighted that the report had found Adv Pikoli had a lack of understanding of his responsibility to operate within a strict security environment, and to ensure that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) operated in a manner that took into account and did not compromise national security.
"Adv Pikoli's professional competence is not in question. However, it should be noted that the requisite skills would, necessarily, include professional competence as well as those outlined by the enquiry, in particular, appreciation for and sensitivity to matters of national security," the President said at the time.
While government's submissions to the enquiry did not include Adv Pikoli being a risk to national security, Dr Ginwala did say in her report that Adv Pikoli did not give due consideration to the actions the former President might have needed to take in order to defuse a potential security crisis.
"Had this been presented as a reason for the suspension [of Adv Pikoli], when his conduct would have held a real risk of undermining national security, I would not have hesitated to find the reason to be legitimate.
The enquiry consequently recommended, among other things, that Advocate Pikoli "be restored to the office of the NDPP".
However, the President explained that after considering the report, he had taken cognisance of the fact that the enquiry appeared to have confined itself to the determination of whether the communicated reason for the suspension of Advocate Pikoli was legitimate rather than whether he was fit to hold the office of NDPP as was stipulated in the terms of reference.
