Willie Hofmeyr might regret 'postbox' comment

13 October 2016

Cape Town - Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Willie Hofmeyr’s bid for the Public Protector position might come back to haunt him.

His boss, NPA head Shaun Abrahams, on Wednesday expressed concern about the tone of Hofmeyr’s response to Parliament’s ad hoc committee during his interview in August.

Hofmeyr was one of the candidates considered to fill Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s shoes, and made it to the second-last round of the selection process.

MPs asked him why he wanted to leave his current post. He described himself as "an efficient postbox to channel civil claims to the state attorney".

The job did not make him want to jump out of bed in the morning and he only worked three to four hours a day.

‘Deeply concerned’

Briefing Parliament’s justice committee, Abrahams was questioned about his institution "underutilising" someone with Hofmeyr’s experience and talents.

Abrahams said Hofmeyr had been given the chance to quit when he was appointed National Director of Public Prosecutions in June 2015. Hofmeyr’s two predecessors had not complained about their work, Abrahams said.

"If somebody feels that they are not being adequately utilised, and they don’t want to be part of a team, then they must look elsewhere to be utilised accordingly. When you are picked for that level, you are a team player. You have responsibility," he said.

He said he regarded Hofmeyr as a leader in the NPA, who would do what was best for the institution.

"So, of course I was deeply concerned when I watched this interview. And here is somebody I had sent an email requesting to do specific work and the response is: 'We don’t have the resources to do it'."

Abrahams said he could go further, but the justice committee meeting in Parliament was not the right place to do so.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.