Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has appointed Advocate Willem Heath as the new head of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
The appointment, which was announced on Tuesday, was made in order to strengthen the institutional capacity to fight crime and corruption.
"The appointment will ease the pressure on Mr Willie Hofmeyr, the Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions, who has headed the SIU in conjunction with his role as Head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU). Mr Hofmeyr will retain the AFU responsibility," Zuma said.
He noted that under Hoymeyr's leadership, the two units had made a significant contribution to the fight against crime and that it was now necessary to strengthen capacity further by placing the units under separate commands.
"The strengthening of the units at leadership level will improve government's response to the growing crime syndicates, more sophisticated means of committing crimes and the ever growing threat of cyber crime. It will help us in furthering our objective of dealing decisively with crime and corruption, one of government's five priorities," Zuma added.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe has been in discussions with Hofmeyr on the separation of functions since last year.
"We thank Mr Hofmeyr and acknowledge his contribution and achievements as head of the SIU over the past few years. We are also happy to welcome Mr Heath back to the SIU," the president said.
The SIU was previously headed by Heath when he was a Judge of the Eastern Cape High Court.
He resigned as SIU head as a result of a Constitutional Court ruling in 2000, which found that the appointment of a judge as head of the SIU was unconstitutional. He resigned as a judge in 2001.
He currently serves as advisor to the Justice Minister and is the chief executive officer of Heath Forensic Investigations.
