Pikoli says he was forced out of NPA for refusing pressure to drop apartheid-era cases

Former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Advocate Vusi Pikoli said he was forced out of the NPA after refusing political pressure to drop apartheid-era cases.

On Friday, Pikoli concluded his two-day testimony before the Khampepe Commission probing delays in prosecuting apartheid-era cases.

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He said his tenure at the NPA was cut short after he refused then-Justice Minister Bridgette Mabandla to abandon cases coming out of the TRC.

Adding that the political pressure came from African National Congress (ANC) leaders’ anxiety about also being prosecuted for their pre-1994 activities through uMkhonto weSizwe.

“I said to the minister [that] I am not going to resign, that I will be lying to the nation and myself because I will not be in a position to state the real reason. I will have to lie to myself I am not prepared to do that. For the sake of independence of prosecutors, it can’t be right for a member of the executive to ask a national director to resign.”