NDPP interviews: Menzi Simelane quizzed on 2010 blood diamond case

A panel interviewing candidates for National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss has pressed Advocate Menzi Simelane on the 2010 blood diamonds case that was tried during his term.

Simelane was being interviewed as the final candidate vying to return as the NPA head after the Constitutional Court ruled that his appointment was invalid in 2012.

Six candidates have been interviewed for the post as Advocate Shamila Batohi’s term comes to an end next month.

The blood diamond case involved the gifting of three uncut diamonds to Naomi Campbell by former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

This happened at a dinner that the former statesman, Nelson Mandela, hosted in South Africa in 1997.

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During his interview, Simelane raised the blood diamond case, informing the panel of a meeting he had had with Advocate George Bizos, who was representing the former Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund trustee, Jeremy Ratcliffe, who was an accused.

This came after he initially told the panel that when he was NPA boss, he usually did not interfere with the work of directors of public prosecution, a practice that the panellists believe he deviated from when he had the meeting.

But Simelane has refused to concede to this point, denying that the meeting was irregular.

“It was not to deal with the case, it was so hear. Remember, they had not indicated what proposition they wanted to take forward or what they would want to argue, so I said, ‘Okay, I’ll hear you'. It was only when he had arrived that he said, 'We want to make representations'.

“I said I would not deal with the matter on the basis that it would be de minimis. The matter will go to court, and it will be dealt with there because that’s where it already is.”

While the result of this meeting was never established, Ratcliffe was found not guilty of possessing uncut diamonds in 2011.