Appointed by president Mandela in 1995 to investigate corruption and maladministration in the Eastern Cape, a brief given national scope in 1996 when the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was set up. Heath headed the SIU until a Constitutional Court judgment required his replacement by a public official rather than a judge. In 2011 he was again appointed to head the SIU but resigned shortly afterwards when remarks he made led to widespread public calls for his resignation.