Selebi legal bill cost taxpayers R2,3m

The elite in the ANC know they can do the crime because not only will we taxpayers foot the bill for the best legal minds taxpayer money can buy but given time, laws can be changed, prosecuting agencies can be disbanded and hey, if the law runs its course and you are thrown into jail, you will be out in a few months a la Shaik and Yengeni. African politics at its best. Should we expect anything different?

The problem with us is that we expect these cretins to behave with decency - a trait no ANC leader possesses - whereas all we really need to do to stop feeling disappointment time and again is to lower our expectations of these people and all will be well again with our blood pressure.

FF+ Pieter Groenewald says the suspended police chief should foot the bill himself

The minister of Safety and Security, Mr. Nathi Mthethwa, has confirmed in writing that Selebi's legal fees to date has cost taxpayer's R2,3 million. Mthethwa had replied in writing to a question put in Parliament by Mr. Pieter Groenewald (MP) of the Freedom Front Plus. Groenewald had already last year in a letter addressed to the then Minister of Safety and Security, Mr. Charles Nqakula, asked whether taxpayer's money would be used to pay for Selebi's legal fees. Nqakula confirmed that the state would be paying the costs of Selebi's first application, but could at the time not say what the amount would be. In the same letter, Nqakula said that Selebi had applied for legal representation at the expense of the state for his forthcoming criminal case and that it was being considered by the office of the State Prosecutor.

"Now we know that the office of the State Prosecutor had indeed decided that the taxpayer's has to shake their pockets for Selebi's legal fees. It is totally unacceptable that taxpayer's money is being used for Selebi's legal fees. Selebi had in his personal capacity, in order to salvage his own honour, submitted an application to the court. The application was not in the interest of the South African Police Service. Taxpayer's money can also not be used for Selebi's criminal case. The charges do not result from the execution of his duties and that is why Selebi has to foot his legal bill himself", Mr. Pieter Groenewald (MP), the chief spokesperson on Safety and Security for the Freedom Front Plus says.

"Nqakula said that Selebi's costs are being paid by the state in terms of Section 3 of the State Prosecutor's Act. This section only provides for cases where actions are in the public's interest or where the state has an interest in a case. In Selebi's case not one of these aspects are at play. Now that an amount is known, a complaint will be lodged with the Public Protector in order to determine whether taxpayer's money is not being misappropriated", Groenewald said.