President Kgalema Motlanthe's decision to fire national prosecutions authority (NPA) boss Vusi Pikoli is not only baffling but markedly against expectations.
President Kgalema Motlanthe's decision to fire national prosecutions authority (NPA) boss Vusi Pikoli is not only baffling but markedly against expectations.
Pikoli was unexpectedly fired by the president yesterday on the grounds that he had not paid sufficient attention to national security.
This despite the NPA boss having been declared fit to hold office by the Ginwala inquiry.
This development suggests there's more in the strange twist of events than meets the eye - given the web of intricacies surrounding Pikoli's suspension by former president Thabo Mbeki last year.
Pikoli believed he was suspended by Mbeki because the NPA intended arresting National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi as part of a corruption investigation.
But the more intriguing conspiracy theory was that his real undoing had been his haste in pursuing the Selebi investigation at the expense of ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma's corruption cases.
Yet it might well be that the ANC had not forgiven Pikoli for presiding over the scandalous Browse Mole report, which alleged a foreign-funded coup to install Zuma as president.
The lingering question, though, is: could Pikoli have been ultimately caught up in the intrigue of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds?
Strange web of intrigue
President Kgalema Motlanthe's decision to fire national prosecutions authority (NPA) boss Vusi Pikoli is not only baffling but markedly against expectations.
President Kgalema Motlanthe's decision to fire national prosecutions authority (NPA) boss Vusi Pikoli is not only baffling but markedly against expectations.
Pikoli was unexpectedly fired by the president yesterday on the grounds that he had not paid sufficient attention to national security.
This despite the NPA boss having been declared fit to hold office by the Ginwala inquiry.
This development suggests there's more in the strange twist of events than meets the eye - given the web of intricacies surrounding Pikoli's suspension by former president Thabo Mbeki last year.
Pikoli believed he was suspended by Mbeki because the NPA intended arresting National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi as part of a corruption investigation.
But the more intriguing conspiracy theory was that his real undoing had been his haste in pursuing the Selebi investigation at the expense of ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma's corruption cases.
Yet it might well be that the ANC had not forgiven Pikoli for presiding over the scandalous Browse Mole report, which alleged a foreign-funded coup to install Zuma as president.
The lingering question, though, is: could Pikoli have been ultimately caught up in the intrigue of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds?