"The appointment of the SIU [head] should be by the end of February," he told reporters in Pretoria.

Zuma announced in his state-of-the-nation address earlier this month that all vacant posts "at the upper echelons of the criminal justice system" would be filled, but did not say when.

Radebe told reporters: "It is important to recognise that the length it has taken to make an appointment of the NDPP must be viewed in the context of the prior judicial process."

The post of SIU head has been vacant for over a year.