Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi were struck from the roll of advocates on September 15 2016, after Judge Francis Legodi in the High Court agreed with the GCB that they were "not fit and proper" to be advocates. (Gallo)
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach said that if newly appointed National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams dropped fraud and perjury charges against his deputy Advocate Nomgcobo Jiba as was reported in the weekend media, she would demand that he appears before the committee.
However, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku would not confirm or deny the reports that a decision had been taken on whether charges would be dropped.
“We will address the media on some of the cases that attracted media attention and the public’s attention. We will do that soon. We might as well wait for that briefing.”
He said that Abrahams, who was appointed in June, was reviewing all the high profile cases and being briefed by those involved in prosecuting the cases.
“Then a decision would be made whether in fact if those cases are prosecutable or if there are any reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution. That determination has not been made,” said Mfaku.
He said that once decision had been made on the high profile cases a press conference would be called.
Breytenbach’s comments follows a report in the City Press newspaper on Sunday, citing unnamed sources, that charges against Jiba were set to be withdrawn on instruction by Abrahams.
Jiba is due to appear in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court next week Wednesday. The charges against Jiba relate to her decision to prosecute Johan Booysen, the head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal, on racketeering charges.
Last year February, Durban High Court Judge Trevor Gorven threw out the charges against Booysen, who was at the time suspended, and at the time described Jiba’s decision to charge Booysen as “arbitrary, [and] offend the principle of legality and, therefore, the rule of law and were unconstitutional.”
Gorven, in his judgement, agreed with Booysen’s assertion that Jiba lied about having certain statements before her when she decided to prosecute, and could therefore not have used them to make her decision.
Booysen had been accused of running a criminal enterprise consisting of members of the former Cato Manor Organised Crime Unit that he headed up.
Breytenbach said the report that Abrahams “wishes to drop the charges levelled against his disgraced deputy, Nomgcobo Jiba, are of concern and do not bode well for the National Prosecuting Authority’s ability to discharge its mandate independently and without fear, favour or prejudice.” – ANA