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Message: [QUOTE="Queen, post: 87643, member: 27"] Political meddling in apartheid-era prosecution decisions got flatly denied by the man who built South Africa's prosecuting authority from scratch. Bulelani Ngcuka's background and testimony [LIST] [*]Bulelani Ngcuka, South Africa's first NDPP from 1998 to 2004, voluntarily faced the Khampepe Commission. [*]His mentor Griffiths Mxenge was killed by a Vlakplaas death squad in 1981. [*]Ngcuka endured eight months of solitary confinement and three years locked up. [*]Fort Hare University is where he studied law before entering the struggle. [/LIST] Building the NPA on a shoestring budget [LIST] [*]A R6-million budget greeted Ngcuka when he started on 1 August 1998. [*]He stood up the Scorpions to merge investigators and prosecutors under one roof. [*]Life sentences for Western Cape taxi violence perpetrators followed that restructuring. [*]The Priority Crimes Litigation Unit got created specifically for TRC-related dockets. [/LIST] Why apartheid cases barely reached court [LIST] [*]Only six of 21 priority TRC matters actually made it to trial. [*]Destroyed evidence and dead witnesses gutted most cases before they started. [*]Biko's killing lacked sufficient proof for a successful prosecution back then. [*]NPA has since reopened an inquest into Biko's 1977 death. [/LIST] Ngcuka's firm stance on independence [LIST] [*]Ngcuka insisted no political pressure ever touched his prosecutorial calls. [*]Attempts by outside lawyers to sway non-TRC decisions got shut down. [*]An Amnesty Task Team that paused cases came after his 2004 departure. [*]Cross-examination by victims' families, notably the Calatas, got postponed. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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