SOUTH Africa’s disgraced former police chief Jackie Selebi has been jailed for 15 years for taking bribes from drug lords.
Judge Meyer Joffe, in his last sitting at the Johannesburg High Court before retiring, said Selebi was a “stranger to the truth”.
"Mr Selebi, you were an embarrassment in the witness box," the judge said during sentencing on Tuesday. “Officials must know that corruption is not worth the effort."
The sentencing set in motion a new legal battle as Selebi applied for and was granted R20,000 bail pending an appeal which must be filed within two weeks.
The judge refused to grant indemnity from prosecution to Glenn Agliotti, the convicted drug smuggler on trial for murder in the courtroom next door, and the man who was found to have provided Selebi with cash and gifts worth at least R184,000.
Agliotti's evidence helped convict Selebi, who famously once referred to him as his friend "finish and klaar", but the judge said he hadn't answered questions frankly and honestly.
The judge criticised Selebi for failing the oath of office he took in January 2000, when he was sworn in as commissioner, saying the speech he made then showed he was fully aware of the deleterious effect of corruption.
He said the fact that Agliotti could make Selebi available to businessmen like Billy Rautenbach, Brett Kebble, John Stratton and Clinton Nassif had tarnished the image of the police; while the fact that he made secret documents available to some of them, tended to destroy confidence in the police.
The judge rejected defence counsel advocate Jaap Cilliers's submission that Agliotti had manipulated Selebi.
"The accused was an adult man, he had occupied high office, he was the national commissioner of police. He could have said no to Agliotti," said Judge Joffe.
Judge Joffe criticised Selebi's lack of remorse.
"But unfortunately for the accused, it goes further than an absence of remorse. The accused lied and fabricated evidence in an endeavour to escape the consequences of his conduct. By so doing, he eroded much of the sympathy that one could have had with him."
Judge Joffe told Selebi he was an embarrassment five times over -- to the office of the national commissioner of police that he had occupied at the time of the crime; to those who had appointed him to it; to the SA Police Service officers he had led; to all "right-thinking citizens"; and, to the court.
"It is inconceivable that the person who occupied the office of national commissioner of police could have been such a stranger to the truth," said Judge Joffe.
During the sentencing, Selebi was surrounded by his wife, family and friends, who crowded the front benches. At times during the proceedings, Selebi put his head in his hands, rubbed his face and slouched forward in his seat.
"It is not possible to measure the level of embarrassment to policemen and women who are in the frontline of the fight against crime, who daily put their lives on the line for their fellow citizens when confronted by the reality that their former national commissioner jettisons the truth when he thinks it will advance his case," said the judge.
"It is incomprehensible that the national commissioner of police would be found to be an unreliable witness. While there may be debate and difference of opinion as to competence, effectiveness, suitability and ability, it cannot be doubted that all people of South Africa would join in rejecting a national commissioner of police who is found to be an untruthful witness."
He said it was beyond understanding that Selebi tried to manufacture evidence for the court.
"The fact that you must have thought that this evidence would have been believed by this court is an embarrassment to this court in itself."
The Democratic Alliance party said the outcome was a “rare instance of justice” against a corrupt official with strong connections to the ruling African National Congress party.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) commented the sentence was too lenient given the professional positions Selebi held at home and abroad at the time he was charged.
“He was not only an embarrassment to the SAPS [South African Police Services], but to the country’s image abroad because of his involvement with Interpol,” said IFP spokesperson Velaphi Ndlovu.
The independent anti-corruption police unit the Scorpions – which, much to the dismay of many South Africans was disbanded last year by the government – received special praise for its role in the investigation.
Selebi is the most senior government official to receive a jail term in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.