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A request to summon the ministers of police, justice and security to Parliament for answers about the burglary at the chief justice’s office was shot down amid fears that it would turn into a “political football”.
Democratic Alliance member of Parliament Glynnis Breytenbach made the request in a letter to the chairperson of Parliament’s committee on justice and correctional services, Dr Mathole Motshekga.
The office of the chief justice was supposed to report back to the committee today, and Breytenbach believed it would be a convenient time to have all these players in one room.
Motshekga differed.
He told Media24 yesterday that the scheduled meeting, which had already been registered in Parliament’s diary for committee sittings, was cancelled earlier this week.
In a subsequent media alert he said the office of the chief justice had requested that it be postponed given the current circumstances.
The office of the chief justice was supposed to present its budget and annual performance report on Thursday.
But according to Motshekga it wouldn’t be wise to have the office of the chief justice report on a set topic and then MPs raised questions on the issue of the break-in prematurely.
“We can not confuse the public even more. This is a very sensitive issue that must be dealt with in the right way and not be turned into a political football.”
Motshekga also said it was premature to summon the three ministers.
“There is the separation of powers principle that people should understand. The police are working on the investigation and we must allow them to complete it. What would we, as Parliament, ask anyway – unless we just want to make a political football of the issue. This is an extremely sensitive issue that affects the constitutional architecture in our democracy.”
Motshekga said law enforcement officers would have to leave no stone unturned.
“We will wait for the report and if we still have questions and are not satisfied, we will have them account. We can’t expect minute-by-minute accountability. They must be allowed to do their job.”
The three men arrested in connection with the break-in at the chief justice’s offices were expected to appear in court today.
The computers with the personal information of the country’s judges have also not been found.
Police were looking for a man they believed might have valuable information that could lead to the recovery of the 15 computers, acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane said on Wednesday.
A Nkosinathi Msimango was in the vicinity of Mamelodi on the day of the arrests and had valuable information and insight into the commission of this crime, Phahlane said.
Phahlane said the man was not a suspect but police “believe that Msimango has valuable information that can assist in the recovery of the items that were stolen”.
On whether the police believed that it was an inside job or not, Phahlane said the police did not have enough information to prove that theory.
“We do not know what the motive of the crime is at this stage... We are expecting more arrests. The team is hard at work,” he said.
He said he didn’t know what files were on the computers.
“I do not have credible information that there is a link to the high-profile cases and that is why we are calling on everyone to refrain from making irresponsible statements and linking certain people with this crime,” Phahlane said.
Office of the Chief Justice spokesperson, Nathi Mncube, said he had informed the judge presidents that there was no cause for concern on their part, “but we are working with the police as to whether there is need to enhance security around the judges themselves. At the moment there is no indication that anyone is at risk.”
Phahlane said a security assessment of the chief justice’s office would be done.
Mncube said the Midrand offices were still fairly new, “and we thought that there was sufficient security. If SAPS is of the view that we need to beef up the security then we will consider it”.
The break-in has widely been labelled as an attack on the judiciary.
Breytenbach expressed her shock and anger that all meetings of the committee on justice and correctional services, especially the one scheduled for today, when the office of the chief justice was scheduled to appear, had been cancelled at the last minute.
“It seems that some on the justice committee would prefer to stick their heads in the sand rather than urgently discuss the deeply troubling break-in at the office of the chief justice, which can only be viewed as an attack on the judiciary,” she said.
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