Willie Hofmeyr

William Andrew "Willie" Hofmeyr (born 22 November 1954) is a South African lawyer and former politician who was Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions from 2001 to 2019. He was the founding head of the National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit from 1999 to 2011 and the head of the Special Investigating Unit from 2001 to 2011. Although he was removed from the AFU by Shaun Abrahams in 2015, he returned in 2019 before he retired late that year.

Hofmeyr was an activist with the United Democratic Front during apartheid and was admitted as an advocate of the High Court in 1991. He represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999, during which time he served as parliamentary counsellor to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki from 1998. He received extensive public attention as a prosecutor due to his role in politically sensitive prosecutions.

Early life and activism Hofmeyr was born on 22 November 1954 in Cape Town in the former Cape Province. He is Afrikaans. He matriculated at Nassau High School in Mowbray particularly through the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). He was a member of the executive committee of NUSAS Wages Commission, as well as a member of the editorial board of Abasebenzi, and in that capacity assisted in union organising in Cape Town. After the African National Congress (ANC) was unbanned later in 1990, Hofmeyr served on the ANC's Western Cape regional executive from 1991 to 1994. He served a single term in Parliament, leaving after the 1999 general election. From 1998 to 1999, he served as parliamentary counsellor to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki.

National Prosecuting Authority: 1999–2019

Mbeki and Motlanthe presidencies: 1999–2009 Mbeki was elected as President of South Africa in the 1999 election and in May he appointed Hofmeyr as a Special Director of Public Prosecutions at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Hofmeyr's mandate was to establish and lead the new Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) within the framework of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. Speculating about how Hofmeyr's role could be reconciled with his opposition to the policy, the Mail & Guardian pointed out that Hofmeyr used his influence in the process to lobby for the retentions of the Scorpions' investigative model; it observed that "Hofmeyr may not be someone to compromise his principles, but compromise is one of his principles". In his capacity as Deputy NDPP, Hofmeyr was appointed to study the so-called Spy Tapes, secret audio recordings that Zuma's lawyers claimed revealed political collusion in Zuma's prosecution, and he advised the acting NDPP, Mokotedi Mpshe, to drop the charges. Announcing the decision, Hofmeyr said, "It was simply not possible for us to proceed given the manipulation of the [prosecutorial] process."

The Mail & Guardian supposed that Hofmeyr might have been aiming to broker "a compromise that will let Zuma off the hook while saving the NPA from further bashing and embarrassment" in the best interests of the NPA's survival, though the newspaper also pointed out that Hofmeyr might have been protecting his own political interests, given his presumed candidacy for the top job at the Hawks. He wrote:I argued that the prosecution should be discontinued. I had investigated Zuma’s allegations. In my view, they proved that McCarthy and Ngcuka had actively abused the NPA to discredit Zuma... McCarthy did, in fact, manipulate the timing of the institution of the prosecution against Zuma for political reasons. He did so because he, and others close to Mbeki and opposed to Zuma, believed that delaying the prosecution would harm Zuma's attempts to compete against Mbeki for the position of ANC president. Weeks later, Simelane said that the relevant clause was "an unfortunate drafting error"; it was reported that Justice Minister Jeff Radebe had intervened to save Hofmeyr's job.

In July 2011, the NPA announced that Hofmeyr was under investigation by the police in connection with alleged misappropriation of SIU funds in improperly awarded tenders. Hofmeyr was quoted as saying, "It is to be expected that there will be efforts to discredit those dealing with serious corruption, and this has happened in the past. One just has to be tough enough to deal with it when it happens". Journalists, civil society organisations, and opposition parties all expressed concern about the NPA's announcement, especially because the SIU had announced in March that it was actively investigating 16 public agencies, including the police department; the Democratic Alliance suspected that the investigation had a "sinister motive". AmaBhungane said that Zuma and his supporters were suspicious of Hofmeyr because of his influence in the NPA, because of his association with a group of ex-Scorpions, Gerrie Nel among them, and because he was "seen as having changed since once too often" in ANC's factional politics, especially given that he was formerly viewed as "Mbeki's man".

Removal from the AFU: 2015 In August 2015, recently appointed NDPP Shaun Abrahams removed Hofmeyr from the AFU and transferred him to the legal affairs division, a move viewed as a demotion. He remained a deputy NDPP in his new post. In early 2016, Hofmeyr provided evidence in a court case which sought to remove Nomgcobo Jiba from her position as deputy NDPP; in an affidavit, he alleged that Jiba frequently acted "in support of political groupings" and that Abrahams – still his boss – had displayed "a systematic pattern of protecting Ms. Jiba and others improperly... suggest[ing] that he has chosen to align himself with their agenda".

Also in 2016, Hofmeyr was shortlisted for appointment to succeed Thuli Madonsela as Public Protector. He was dropped when the shortlist was condensed in August.

Ramaphosa presidency: 2018–2019 In April 2019, after Shamila Batohi was appointed to succeed Abrahams as NDPP, Hofmeyr was returned to his previous post as head of the AFU. He retired in November of that year. At that point he was the longest-serving of the NPA's four Deputy NDPPs.