ADVOCATE Willem Heath's sycophancy is backfiring, and might well cost him his new job as chief of theSpecial Investigations Unit.
To recap, the former judge had hardly perched himself in the chair after being appointed to the position by President Jacob Zuma when he stunned even his supporters by shooting his mouth off, making wild allegations against former president Thabo Mbeki and former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka.
In an interview with City Press newspaper, Heath blamed Mbeki for instigating rape charges against Zuma, prompting the former president to come out of his cocoon of silence to rubbish the claims.
Mbeki has demanded "evidence", and it would not be surprising if he went thelitigation route.
In the aftermath of Heath's blabberings, poignant questions have been raised about his suitability for the very important job of SIU chief, given his undisguised loyalty to Zuma.
Heath has already been hauled to a meeting with Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe, and Zuma is under pressure to give him the boot and find another candidate to fill the post.
Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj has distanced the Presidency from Heath's statements, and insisted that Heath made them "in his personal capacity".
Zuma has called for an investigation into Heath's utterances, and what their implications are.
Other ANC heavyweights have called for Heath to be "called to order".
At the weekend Ngcuka published an open letter to Heath, in which he demands to know why Heath did not charge him criminally if he had information (as he has claimed) that he (Ngcuka) and his wife, former deputy president PhumzileMlambo-Ngcuka, had solicited money.
Whatever Heath hoped to achieve by making the claims, he has not covered himself in glory, embarrassing even those who supported him for the job.
As for Zuma, who has a litany of bad appointments to his name, he has only himself to blame for glaringly surrounding himself with known sycophants.
For the record, Heath was his legal adviser when he fought (and won) attempts to charge him for his role in the arms deal corruption.
Heath in hot water
ADVOCATE Willem Heath's sycophancy is backfiring, and might well cost him his new job as chief of theSpecial Investigations Unit.
To recap, the former judge had hardly perched himself in the chair after being appointed to the position by President Jacob Zuma when he stunned even his supporters by shooting his mouth off, making wild allegations against former president Thabo Mbeki and former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka.
In an interview with City Press newspaper, Heath blamed Mbeki for instigating rape charges against Zuma, prompting the former president to come out of his cocoon of silence to rubbish the claims.
Mbeki has demanded "evidence", and it would not be surprising if he went thelitigation route.
In the aftermath of Heath's blabberings, poignant questions have been raised about his suitability for the very important job of SIU chief, given his undisguised loyalty to Zuma.
Heath has already been hauled to a meeting with Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe, and Zuma is under pressure to give him the boot and find another candidate to fill the post.
Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj has distanced the Presidency from Heath's statements, and insisted that Heath made them "in his personal capacity".
Zuma has called for an investigation into Heath's utterances, and what their implications are.
Other ANC heavyweights have called for Heath to be "called to order".
At the weekend Ngcuka published an open letter to Heath, in which he demands to know why Heath did not charge him criminally if he had information (as he has claimed) that he (Ngcuka) and his wife, former deputy president PhumzileMlambo-Ngcuka, had solicited money.
Whatever Heath hoped to achieve by making the claims, he has not covered himself in glory, embarrassing even those who supported him for the job.
As for Zuma, who has a litany of bad appointments to his name, he has only himself to blame for glaringly surrounding himself with known sycophants.
For the record, Heath was his legal adviser when he fought (and won) attempts to charge him for his role in the arms deal corruption.
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