Nxasana says he has already spent the ‘golden handshake’ money

Former national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) Mxolisi Nxasana told eNCA he did not have the settlement payout the Constitutional Court ordered him to pay back.

Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga ordered Nxasana to pay back a sum of more than R10 million due to the illegality of the R17.3-million “golden handshake” former president Jacob Zuma gave him to leave his position as NDPP.

Justice Madlanga made the order on Monday when he handed down the judgment, which found the manner in which Nxasana vacated office and the subsequent appointment of Shaun Abrahams unconstitutional and invalid.

Nxasana said since the Constitutional Court had not stipulated to whom he should repay the money, he would wait until the relevant stakeholder approached him and would then enter into an arrangement with said stakeholder.

Nxasana said he no longer had the money, and explained he had spent it because he had to “live, I had to earn a living, I had liabilities”.

“Remember when the money came, I didn’t steal it, it was paid into my account. I wasn’t working, and I had liabilities,” Nxasana said during the interview.

The former NDPP said he had regarded Zuma as a father because his own father and the former president had been in the ANC fold during the struggle for liberation.

“I respected him, and I still respect him to this day as a father, but I was very disappointed at what he did to me because this also affected my family a great deal,” Nxasana said.

He said the position he found himself in today, that of a victim, was because Zuma had allowed himself to be intimidated by individuals who were pursuing personal agendas in ousting him, Nxasana, from the office of the NDPP.

Zuma has admitted the deal with Nxasana was unlawful.

Nxasana said if he were still heading the national prosecuting authority, he would have read the docket, considered the evidence contained in it, and if he had been satisfied that there is a prima facie case against the former president, then he would have reinstated the corruption charges against Zuma.

Nxasana told the news channel that he not only felt betrayed by Zuma, but also by the former president’s then lawyer Michael Hulley, Justice Minister Michael Masutha and former Justice Minister Jeff Radebe.

Watch the entire interview below:

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