Jackie Selebi

Jacob "Jackie" Sello Selebi (7 March 1950 – 23 January 2015) was the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service from January 2000 to January 2008, when he was put on extended leave and charged with corruption.

Selebi was born on 1950-03-07 in Soweto, a township in the south of Johannesburg.

He had a bachelor's degree from the University of the North, and in the 1980s taught history at several schools.

He was a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and was detained by police at least twice for his anti-apartheid activities.

He spent time in exile in the Soviet Union and in Tanzania, where he taught at the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, and was a representative of the left-wing World Federation of Democratic Youth from 1983 to 1987.

In 1987, while in exile in Zambia, he was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee and as head of the ANC Youth League.

In 1991, with the ANC making preparations for the end of apartheid, he was put in change of organising the repatriation of ANC exiles.

In 1993, he was appointed director of the ANC's department of welfare.

In the first democratic elections of 1994, Selebi was elected as a Member of Parliament.

He was also a former President of African National Congress Youth League, South African ambassador to the United Nations from 1995 to 1998, and President of Interpol from 2004 to 2008.

From 1995 to 1998, he served as the South African ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

He said that crime had decreased since the Rugby World Cup was held in South Africa in 1995, and that there was "no reason for a frenzy about 2010."

In that capacity, he chaired the 1997 Oslo Conference on an International Total Ban on Anti-Personnel Land Mines, at which the Ottawa Treaty was concluded.

He also chaired the 54th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1998, led the preparatory committees for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation, and belonged to the board of trustees at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.

From 1998 to 1999, he was Director-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs in President Nelson Mandela's government.

In 2000, newly elected President Thabo Mbeki appointed him National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

In 2002, while SAPS Commissioner, Selebi was named a vice president of Interpol.

In 2004, he became its first African president.

Thabo Mbeki, who was president at the time, has since said that the Scorpions' investigation into Selebi grew out of investigations into the 2005 murder of mining magnate and ANC donor Brett Kebble.

By late 2006, Selebi was known to be under investigation by the Scorpions for corruption.

In January 2007, Selebi was criticised for his response to a question from the Standing Committee on Public Accounts about police training ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

"What's all the fuss about crime?"

he asked.

In March 2007, Selebi suggested to a parliamentary committee that prostitution and public drinking should be legalised for the duration of the 2010 World Cup, in order to reduce the policing burden.

Some opposition parties and civil society groups expressed dismay.

In January 2008, Selebi resigned from Interpol in order to deal with the corruption allegations against him.

He was also put on "extended leave" by Mbeki, reportedly at his own request – effectively, he was suspended, and Tim Williams was appointed acting National Commissioner.

Selebi was found guilty of corruption on 2 July 2010 and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment on 3 August 2010.

He was convicted of corruption in July 2010 and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.

In December 2011, he reportedly collapsed in his home after learning that his final appeal had been rejected, and was hospitalised.

When he began serving his prison sentence later that month, he was moved immediately to the hospital ward.

After serving fewer than 250 days of his sentence, he was granted medical parole in July 2012, on the grounds that he had end-stage renal failure.

He was released to his home in Waterkloof, Gauteng, where he remained under supervision, and where he reportedly received dialysis several times daily.

However, he was released on medical parole in July 2012, after serving less than a year of his sentence, and lived at home until his death on 23 January 2015.

An anti-apartheid activist in his youth, Selebi was a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and a political ally of former President Thabo Mbeki.

He is among the most senior members of the ANC to be subject to criminal corruption charges.

His investigation and trial, which together lasted over five years, received significant public attention, and were highly political sensitive.

On some views, the trial contributed to the politicisation of the South African criminal justice system, particularly by contributing to the marginalisation and ultimately the disbanding of the Scorpions, the elite unit of the National Prosecuting Agency which had pursued Selebi.

He died in hospital in Pretoria on 23 January 2015, at the age of 64.

He was married – his wife, Anne Selebi, was a nurse – and had two children.