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ID President Patricia de Lille has slammed Justice Minister Jeff Radebe's press conference today on President Zuma's appointment of Advocate Menzi Simelane as the NPA head as ‘a futile spin exercise.

‘No amount of spinning by the Justice Minister will convince South Africans that Advocate Simelane is a fit and proper person for this esteemed position,' Ms De Lille says.

‘The fact of the matter is that Simelane lied under oath during the Ginwala Commission and was described by the Commission as being "arrogant and condescending" towards former NPA head Vusi Pikoli.

‘A judicial officer should have integrity and be honest at all times, but here is someone that lied under oath and therefore fails hopelessly to meet the Constitutional requirements,' says De Lille.

‘If the Minister was not defending such a ridiculous choice by the President, then his conference may have been a bit more convincing, but as things currently stand this appointment is an insult to the administration of justice and is as much on Radebe's conscience as it is on President Zuma's.

‘For the ID this point will be proven again when Simelane has to make a decision on whether or not to prosecute his former boss, Brigitte Mabandla,' De Lille says.

In December last year the ID Leader laid a charge against Mabandla based on the findings of the Ginwala Commission, in terms of Section 32 (1) (b) of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, which reads,

"Subject to the Constitution and this act, no organ of state, and no member or employee of an organ of state nor any other person shall improperly interfere with, hinder or obstruct the prosecuting authority or any member thereof in the exercise, carrying our or performance of its, his or her powers, duties and functions."

On page 178 of her report, Ginwala said the letter instructing Pikoli to halt his prosecution of Selebi could represent a breach of the NPA Act, ‘an allegation that should be urgently investigated by the NPA,' De Lille said at the time.