The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday said that it would ask Minister Jeff Radebe whether he intervened to secure former national prosecutions chief Mokotedi Mpshe a job on the bench.

DA spokesperson Dene Smuts said that she would put a question on the parliamentary order paper asking Radebe whether it was true, as reported in the Mail & Guardian, that he asked the acting judge president of the Western Cape bench, Janet Traverso, to give Mpshe an acting position and whether he did the same in other divisions.

Mpshe, who, as acting head of the National Prosecuting Authority, withdrew corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma, has been given an acting position in the North West division.

The weekly newspaper said that Radebe had approached at least two senior high court judges on Mpshe's behalf and said that his "shopping around" had fuelled perceptions he was trying to reward him for letting Zuma off the hook.

It cited the minister's spokesperson, Tlali Tlali, as confirming that Radebe had approached Traverso but said there was nothing irregular about what he did.

Smuts said the answer did not adequately address the "inevitable" perception that the minister was repaying Mpshe for dropping the case against Zuma.

She said she would also ask Radebe about the long leave of Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe, who clashed with Constitutional Court judges about alleged attempts to sway them in favour of Zuma.

"The minister cannot treat the courts like a chess board on which he plays political end games, with judges put into play or out of play like so many chess pieces."